Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Counting away (after a while)
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 14:20:14 -0500
Reply-To: <jdp () newmath UCR EDU> From: "John de Pillis" <jdp () newmath UCR EDU> To: "Farber, Dave" <farber () cis upenn edu> Hi Dave, Now that the Supreme Court has forbidden ballot counting, IPers may be interested in adding their voice to encourage the Miami Herald to conduct, not only a ballot count, but an ITEMIZED ballot count in Florida, once the dust settles. I attach my original letter to Mr. Alberto Ibarguen(*) Publisher and Chairman of the Herald, in which an itemized count is requested. His tentatively positive response is also attached for IPers' information . Alberto Ibarguen e-mail = aibarguen () herald com Thanks, Dave. John -----Original Message----- ============[ letter to Miami Herald from John de Pillis ]===== -----Original Message----- From: deP [mailto:jdp () newmath UCR EDU] Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2000 3:02 PM To: Ibarguen, Alberto Subject: a post-election suggestion on how to produce AGREEMENT PURPOSE of this LETTER: ======================= In order to produce a sense of FAIR PLAY among ALL parties concerned, and to avoid bickering about the Herald's supposed biases, may I suggest a manner of tabulation when you publish the results of your post-debacle ballot count? WHAT "MANNER" is THAT? ====================== No one can claim objectivity and fair play are compromised IF your punch-card readings are tabulated according to ALL recognized chad categories, e.g., Bush Gore full-hole punch x x 3-corner x x 2-corner x x pregnant x x hanging x x etc. (whatever is necessary) That is, do NOT just list "good" cards and "bad" cards --- that would be a listing of your OPINION . This will only rekindle the firestorms of protest. An all-inclusive listing, as suggested, will not. THE RESULT? =========== If ALL categories are listed, fairness will be served. Also, I would bet (sure, this is my guess) that the same winner will result regardless of how the chads are classified. It would be interesting to test this mathematician's guess. Thank you, John de Pillis =================================== John de Pillis Professor of Mathematics University of California Riverside, CA 92521 tel: 909-789-0978 fax 909-789-8886 ===[ reply from Miami Herald ]============== From: Ibarguen, Alberto [mailto:AIbarguen () herald com] Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 9:26 PM To: 'deP' Cc: Baron, Martin; Seibel, Mark (Miami) Subject: RE: a post-election suggestion on how to produce AGREEMENT Interesting. I'm going to share it with the editors. As to "the Heralds' supposed biases," I assume you know that for every article, we get "bias" claims from both sides of any issue as hotly contested and passionately argued as this one. Thanks. Alberto Ibargüen =========[ E N D ]========================================
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