A Secret Code on my Ballot Saved Me

[@turtle4llama]

To be fair, people who fill out surveys are self-evidently fond of voting

[@vlogbrothers]

An excellent point...

[@deleted-something]

Yes

[@franny5156]

It's soo fun to fill out surveys though😂 voting isn't that fun cause you feel like you're deciding the fate of the whole world while at the same time having next to no power at all. In surveys you're usually asked about youself your opinions or your behaviours... that's way easier. Still both are worth doing

[@drseventrys1119]

Triple confirmation bias

[@VilcxjoVakero]

The only way we will know for sure is if we send out a survey of people who already filled out the last survey

[@JohnTaylor-xg4jn]

Missoula County voter here. I was wondering why RFK Jr was the top Presidential candidate on my ballot, and couldn't make heads or tails on the candidate order. thank you Hank, I never knew this!

[@Ford_prefect_42]

😂😂 that is a weird one

[@marksusskind1260]

To infinity and beyond, the number increasing rapidly the further one gets from Missoula, Montana.

[@besteven]

Oregon ballot is the same.

[@sandiago7564]

It's tripy, even in Cali RFK Jr still didn't have time to get off the ballet. It litterly led to a law suit between RFK Jr's Campaign and some states.

[@SkyTheHusky]

Hasn't he dropped out?

[@bmckelvy5717]

The point about conspiracy theories being based on a lack of *trust* rather than a lack of information is a pretty significant point to make. I suppose the question is how to regain trust in the systems worth trusting

[@jesterca159]

I also think some people refuse to trust the people and systems working on information

[@AdamYJ]

@@jesterca159 True. Which, as a library professional, makes trying to get the right information to such people very difficult.

[@streglof]

Paper ballots only, counted by hand. One day voting. No mail-in ballots. Not that hard.

[@JustineEPhotography]

@@streglof that makes it a lot more difficult for people that work long shifts, disabled people who may only be able to vote by mail, or people without transportation to get to the polls. Everyone should have the right to vote.

[@par717]

@@JustineEPhotography but let's agree with them with the paper ballot part - I could imagine that generally there is more trust in a paper ballot that one marks by their own hand vs. a computer system that could be manipulated digitally. But hand counting... no. That's absurd. Computers can count, people can verify.

[@Darwin_is_my_copilot]

Kudos to Hank for prudentially protecting his location but at the same time... doesn't Hank occupy like 5% of the MT population??😅

[@vlogbrothers]

In a small state it is indeed the case that districts are very small!!

[@CorwinFound]

Hank's vote counts more than the average American. Usually unfortunate but in this case, I trust Hank to represent us.

[@Amberpawn]

(small state) - The American West is very weird.

[@youtubewatcher2]

@@vlogbrothers i am sensing a winking emoji is due. How many northeastern states would fit in your congressional "district"?

[@mayaenglish5424]

@@Amberpawn Small state by population, not landmass.

[@mylifeismylaptop8529]

This made me look back at my mail in ballot and I also noticed that republicans are all listed first (even right leaning candidates in non partisan races were listed first). I decided to google Florida’s policies and actually the policy is to list the party of the governor first which seems a little unfair. For the non partisan races the policy is to list them alphabetically and in an astonishing coincidence all of the right leaning non partisan candidates in my district happen to just be first alphabetically

[@N3rdfightermom]

Oh Florida 😞

[@paulkinzer7661]

I just came here to comment on this. I recently read an article about bias in elections and learned that people on the top of the ballot have a 1 to 2 percentage point advantage (yeah, there are people who, all things being equal, will vote for who is listed first). This was long suspected, but actual evidence now supports it. So, When George W. Bush won the extremely close election for the presidency back in 2000, with all the drama caused by the 'hanging chads' and the Supreme Court getting involved, in FLORIDA, which held the key to who won that year, and where the party who's governor is in power determines whose name goes first on the ballot? Who was governor of Florida at the time? JEB Bush. So, because of the undeniable unfairness that was a deliberate part of the system, so much is different from what it would have been otherwise. I realize that that's a true statement much of the time, bit it's not usually so specific. Talk about granular.

[@Ford_prefect_42]

Wow Florida.... That's shameful. Thanks for looking. That's very interesting

[@metroidnerd9001]

Texas does this, too, ordering parties by their rank in the previous gubernatorial election (so it applies to more than just first place). This gives us Republicans first, then Democrats, then Libertarians, then Greens. This is also how we report our official election results, so if you look at results from the 1994 election or before, Democrats will be listed first.

[@shellh929]

I tried to look up ours (Wisconsin) but can't seem to settle on the correct search terms.

[@SKSmith]

In NC we decide ballot order through a bingo ball and a coin flip! Bingo ball that says which letter to start with and coin flip to decide alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order from there.

[@amberbydreamsart5467]

that seems like such a jaunty way to do it! I love the things people come up with

[@vlogbrothers]

Wild...our way is better!!!

[@youtubewatcher2]

Don't y'all have a nonpartisan state election board? Easiest way to deflect criticism

[@leadpaintchips9461]

@@youtubewatcher2 In the US, having a political position be actually nonpartisan is a pipe dream. It's the reason why there's gerrymandering.

[@youtubewatcher2]

@@leadpaintchips9461 there is gerrymandering because most states have redistricting done by legislatures. Maryland and North Carolina are the most extreme examples. The state election board monitors the conduct of elections not redistricting. This election Wisconsin voters have a neutral state map for the first time in 30 years. Ohio has an initiative to establish a nonpartisan commission.

[@doommustard8818]

Feel like we should list "no opinion" first. Because people do not read the part of the ballot that says "if you don't know just leave it empty" and instead just mark the first choice

[@myladycasagrande863]

Really? Do people just mark a candidate instead of skipping the section when they don't have a preference? It would be interesting to see if having "no opinion" listed first would negate the advantage of candidate order, though.

[@acommenter]

Isn't spoiling your ballot a thing in the US?

[@mylifeismylaptop8529]

My sister told me this year she was just gonna mark random for the local non partisan races and I was like “please god no, you know you can just leave that part blank right?”

[@notspm9157]

This in Canada one of the things that bothers me is that it's so difficult to spoil a ballet without it being detected as an "accidental" issue which they flag. There should always be, "No opinion" and finally a "I disagree with all parties listed" as a separate vote and it should be tabulated and released in the final number. If40% of the voters think neither party is good but still vote for their least hated one it should be known.

[@MartianHomebody]

@@myladycasagrande863 It's honestly more surprising to me that someone would assume this isn't happening all the time.

[@ObiMomKenobi13]

It is incredibly hard for some people to know who to trust. Frankly, I am so tired of having to fact check every word that people say. It makes holiday gatherings a nightmare.

[@bjkarana]

This is why, in our house, we make alcohol an integral part of every family gathering. 😎

[@ObiMomKenobi13]

@@bjkarana Brilliant. 😂

[@vlogbrothers]

Epistemic Overload...

[@christieritter9332]

​@vlogbrothers can you explain this? I'm having a hard time finding a good definition.

[@pohjanvanamo]

There is also a way of just chatting of what we think, and fact checking only if it's actually critical piece of info. There will be mistakes, but there's freedom and tranquility in not having to be right all the time. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and we are not supposed to put anyone in a high pedestal, to believe them over everyone else, anyway. Family gatherings should be a place of warmth and trust. If something said keeps bothering us after, we can always fact check in our own time xD

[@HappilyCarnivore]

Here in Texas you're only allowed a mail-in ballot if you're disabled, a senior citizen, or will be out of the county. Everyone else has to go vote in person. I always, always, always vote early to avoid the long lines. This year I'm voting Monday, the first day that early voting opens.

[@theyxaj]

OMG I am also in Texas, you've inspired me to be your twin and try to vote on Monday! I'm getting my voting plan in order

[@HappilyCarnivore]

@@theyxaj Yay, we're voting twins!!

[@aina3387]

I vote early, but not the first day of early voting because lines are long then too. Texas voter here as well.

[@HappilyCarnivore]

@@aina3387 I live in a smaller town (6000 population) so the lines aren't ever bad during early voting. Heck, election day might not be too bad here either, but I don't want to chance it. I also don't want to chance something happening to keep me from voting, so better to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

[@theyxaj]

@@HappilyCarnivore Plus, it's such a relief that nothing can persuade your vote after it's cast!

[@pearlygirl88]

Hank, I appreciate so much the curiosity you attempt to instill in people. Instead of saying, “huh, there’s a thing and now it’s just a thing I attach my biases and assumptions to,” you actually indulge the curiosity and ask why it’s a thing. Thank you. It is hard to try and get people to think like this but you and John do such a wonderful job of trying to teach it and I’m grateful.

[@dragonflies6793]

+

[@WateryStar]

+

[@TorkildKahrs]

If only 90% of the election content people saw was this balanced

[@vlogbrothers]

I know...I was really hoping for a title and thumbnail that would make this one take off but alas, it's normal!!

[@danf1862]

If only 90% of voters would choose policy over emotion, we wouldn’t have the most spectacular crap foisted on us every four years. Also, Citizens United is problematic.

[@wesleywyndam-pryce5305]

​@@danf1862 thats never been anything but a dumb take.

[@slipperynickels]

@@wesleywyndam-pryce5305 bot detected.

[@xliquidflames]

Being that my initials are D.A., I was always first on any list. First on the rolls in school. I got badge number 001 when I was hired at a newly constructed business. I'm always first. Should I run for office? Wait. I missed the point of the video.

[@Kazzzack]

ZW here and I always had the opposite experience lol, always at the back of the classroom

[@DaisyOfDeath]

​@@Kazzzackand the crappiest school books!

[@ATHIP12]

David Archuleta? I loved you on American Idol. You should run for office!

[@OneEyeShadow]

Gotta go with something like Aaron Aaronson to maximise the alphabetical advantage.

[@xliquidflames]

@@OneEyeShadow it is an Ad last name...

[@AlexDings]

Great to hear that >90% of American Nerdfighters vote. We're counting on you

[@Fiasko-]

Or 90% of American nerdfighters who answer surveys vote, which could be very different. Naturally, the kind of person who has filled the survey likes ticking boxes on a piece of paper more than someone who ignored it.

[@AlexDings]

@@Fiasko- Ha, good point

[@fahrenheit2101]

​@@Fiasko-so many people neglect survivorship bias

You're assuming that all Nerdfighters vote the same way?

[@Orchidaceous1]

I can’t imagine anyone who is for reducing the cost of tuberculosis testing, is fascinated by science, is passionate about donating money to all kinds of charitable causes and is against book bans as being a supporter of anyone but Kamala Harris in this race. And if you don’t like that kind of content, I honestly don’t know what you’re doing watching this channel!

[@RaeCarson]

I live in a red state that borders Montana and when I opened my mail-in ballot 2 days ago, I was SHOCKED to see Harris's name listed first. I can't recall that ever happening before. This - or something a lot like it - must be the reason why. What made it even more shocking is that there are no less than NINE candidates for Pres on my ballot. I've only heard of 5 of them.

[@MegaMeg117]

I have 8 on my ballot, also shocked me, and I was also frustrated to see one of them is obviously not a real person and didn’t even have a VP listed. Makes it harder to be confident in these kind of things when shenanigans like that make it through.

[@Random3716]

On my ballot in Michigan I have 8, including 2 tickets with no party affiliation. We also still have RFK Jr. even though he doesn't want to run any more because instead of going as an independant the Natural Law Party nomined him and it is illegal for candidates nominated via party conventions to withdraw in Michigan.

[@RaeCarson]

@Random3716 RFK's still on mine as well. I'm just not sure of the particulars in my state regarding candidates when it comes to inclusion vs omission vs removal. There are FIVE Independent candidates, one Dem, one Rep, one Libertarian, one Constitution, and a blank for Write-In.

[@Jedi_Vigilante]

@@RaeCarson Many states will still have RFK, Jr. still on their ballots for a simply reason: he withdrew AFTER the ballots were printed. That may not seem like a big deal at first, after all just reprint the ballots... until you realize just how much extra cost gets added if you have to reprint all of the ballots. Also, that money isn't coming from a political campaign but government tax dollars. I can think of a lot of things I'd rather tax dollars go to than reprinting a bunch of ballots because one guy backed out of an election.

[@gregweatherup9596]

Mine has 6 (plus a 7th spot for “Write-In”) and I know about all but 1 of them, but then I follow 3rd party politics more than most people do.

[@CruzSanchezRipa]

As a foreigner who was always curious about the form of US ballots, you have completely made my day. I wish you could show more types, and the different types of elections in any givem Estate. Thank you VERY, VERY much! ❤

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

There are a lot of options and it's one of the reasons why the Secretary of State is often such an important office, they're usually the ones that are involved with running the elections and making the statewide decisions. Around here we get a scantron style ballot where you fill in the bubbles to indicate your vote. You can then X that out if you made a mistake and mark a different one. They generally pre-process the ballots to the point where they can turn the machines on the moment the clock hits 8pm and the voting closes. Although, that mostly means that you're no longer allowed to put ballots into the collection bins and you needed to have a postmark by then as virtually nobody votes in person any more unless they need assistance.

[@ann5944]

coming from someone who has a conspiracy theorist dad, i have made this comment on its connection to a lack of trust in anything. really great to see hank's perspective on this 💙

[@sachiperez]

lol, he thinks we don't know where he lives. in our hearts silly!

[@SpaceSoups]

+

[@N3rdfightermom]

Hopefully not the LITERAL heart

[@falleithani5411]

@@N3rdfightermom _Someone_ needs to keep my atria and ventricles contracting in the proper sequence. I've got way too much to do to keep that going all by myself! Thanks Hank! 💚

[@thegriffinnews]

+

[@monsterkiller7539]

​@@falleithani5411so he is a content creator AND a pacemaker?? What a hustler

[@franksampsell3538]

Thank you Hank! As a former elections manager in Michigan I have weekly head slap moments over the rhetoric consuming our election conversation. Thank you for being fair and fun!

[@superduck6456]

It sure is great being lectured on how to run elections by people who have no understanding of election law and have never worked in elections, isn’t it?

[@Thetechnicolorchild]

My two roommates and I called a friend and had a ballot filling out party last night! Happy voting y’all!

[@untappedinkwell]

I love this for all of you! Happy voting! I am having my ballot filling out party this weekend, I think!

[@saikogrrl]

In Australia, we have compulsory voting, so randomising the order of the candidates is even more important, since when disengaged people are forced to vote, they will often do what we call a "donkey vote" and fill in the ballot 1234 etc. 😅

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

Why should people be forced to vote? It's supposed to be the responsibility of the politicians and political parties to earn the votes. If nobody earns the vote, then the voter shouldn't have to vote at all. The reason why so few people vote in the US, isn't because it's hard, or inconvenient, you see low voter turnout even in states like mine where the ballot literally shows up in the mailbox along with relevant guides to help understand the various items on the ballot. And, you can then either just slip it in the mail with no stamp required or drop it off at one of the many locations. And we still have low turnouts because the parties and the candidates aren't promising the things that the voters want, and when they do, they aren't following through on it. Forcing the people who aren't voting to vote, just makes the system even less reliable.

[@angemcauslan2551]

@@SmallSpoonBrigadeyou can always spoil a ballot. You have to turn up to vote in Australia, you don’t have to give back a validly filled out ballot.

[@cameronmurie]

its an interesting setup - there in Aus. What penalties are applied if people just don't bother? Do cops show up or what.

[@shadowmaster1313]

Ordering in 1234 isn't actually a donkey vote, donkey votes are invalid. 1234 is a valid vote

[@shadowmaster1313]

​@@cameronmurieIt's a relatively small fine if you can't come up with an excuse that the electoral commission will waive it for. Generally the system means that there has to be an ease of voting to make fining people fair

[@justayoutuber1906]

in NC an absentee ballet requires a copy of a photo ID...plus 2 witness signatures and addresses or a notary stamp, and you have to pay for postage. Ridiculous hurdles to try to suppress the vote.

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

Woah! How do I even GET a paper copy of my ID, in this day and age?

[@Kooikermom]

@@geeksdo1tbetterit’s called a drivers license

[@Kooikermom]

Just vote in person if you are able, most people are

[@HammerShock23]

​@@KooikermomRespectfully, I think the point is that we should make it easier to participate in voting, not more difficult.

[@DawnDavidson]

@@HammerShock23and there are legitimate reasons to be away. I am out of state right now, attending to family business (holding an in person memorial tomorrow for my dad.) I had not gotten my ballot yet when I left, or I likely would have brought it with me. Fortunately, I am returning a few days before the election this time, so CAN vote when I am back. But I have mailed in my vote in previous years, because of eldercare duties. There SHOULD be a way to vote absentee without Herculean efforts. A notary is well into Herculean territory IMNSHO.

[@angelapotter8084]

After watching this video, I had to look at how my state sorts names on the ballot. Apparently in Utah each letter of the alphabet is assigned a random number between 1 and 26 by a computer program. These numbers become the new alphabetical order. So if Z is assigned the number 3, it will be third in the alphabet. That way the order on the ballot is totally random and gets rid of some of that bias. This was super interesting. I would have never know this is your video didn't spike my curiosity. Thanks Hank!

[@dragonflies6793]

That's fascinating! Thanks for sharing!

[@mayaenglish5424]

huh, that seems like a good way to do it, good job Utah!

[@trickvro]

Oregon does it basically this way too. Special randomized alphabetical order for every election.

[@takatamiyagawa5688]

Your state randomizes the order per-voter, right? Because if it's the same order for every voter, it's not eliminating the top-of-the-ballot advantage, it's just giving that advantage to one random candidate.

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

​@@takatamiyagawa5688 probably per district

[@Veroniquekky]

I appreciate this Hank. I have been feeling really nihilistic & pessimistic. Not like conspiracy theory level but just feels like there’s so much bad everywhere I look and it’s all hopeless regarding positive change. A little bit of faith in humanity restored.

[@Veroniquekky]

Also maybe I’m just stressed from all my math exams recently lol. Getting my math degree December though so if I see this again I’ll say if things really did get better 😂

[@untappedinkwell]

@@Veroniquekky Wow! Yeah, getting a math degree and being near the end of it can be super stressful. I hope the rest of your degree goes as smoothly as it can and that we do get to participate in making some good things happen soon!

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

​@@Veroniquekkyyou're almost there! You got this!

[@katbairwell]

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." You've got this, my American friends. Stand up, speak out, be counted. There is more good in the world than there is evil, it's something the Star Wars prequels got right, evil is small in number but strong in power, good is great in number, but weak in power. I have enough American friends to know that "the man who would be king" does not represent your nation, or it's gloriously diverse, multicultural, peoples. Stand up, speak out, be counted. You have *got* this

[@lunafoxfire]

Wow it is honestly unexpectedly very nice to hear someone being sympathetic towards americans rather than making fun of them

[@mgancarzjr]

​@@lunafoxfirethat's because OP supposes Harris will win both the popular and electoral vote. Will OP maintain the same attitude if Trump wins both?

[@katbairwell]

@@mgancarzjr OP supposes nothing. OP is merely aware that Trump has never won the popular vote thus far, and that was *before* he: attempted a self-coup; was adjudged to have assaulted, and repeatedly defamed, E Jean Carrol; his company was adjudged to have committed multiple acts of fraud against the people of New York; was tried and convicted of 34 felonies; was discovered to have willfully retained some of the nation's most sensitive national defence documents, and left them laying around in a bathroom, and even intentionally showing them to unauthorised people; repeatedly bragged about being responsible for overturning Row; repeatedly said he would be "a dictator on day one"; repeatedly maligned, and disrespected, the entirety of the US military, and their families; and at this point, I'm too tired to continue. Could Trump take the White House? Of course it's possible, the aggressive attempts to interfere with vote counting, inserting poll "watchers", and all manner of other schemes, could see the unthinkable happen. But defeatism, and negativity, about things like elections tends to dissuade people from action, and when it is literally a matter of life and death for some of the most vulnerable in society, each and every voice matters. So no, OP supposes nothing, OP believes that there is more kindness, than there is cruelty, in this world, because OP is desperate for a reason to continue drawing breath. What OP will feel if Trump wins, OP doesn't know, because OP cannot observe their future self. However, after a year of pain, misery, and deep overwhelming grief, OP makes a calculated guess that OP will have become too emotionally distraught to feel much of anything anymore. OP hopes that this response answers your query to your satisfaction, because OP won't be engaging with this particular comment thread any further.

[@katbairwell]

@@lunafoxfire I'm British, moreover I am English, as such I stand in something far too greenhouse-like to be hurling chunks of geology at any other nation.

[@shawnbottom4769]

I think part of the issue is that too many things are hard anymore when they should be simple and easy. It's impossible to get away from and I think it's got everyone exhausted by now. But yes please vote, I have already done so.

[@christopherbrand5360]

I voted in the first day of early voting in NC yesterday!

[@untappedinkwell]

way to go!!

[@mariailyukhina405]

Also got my NY ballot this week. First time voting. It has a table of parties and elections and some squares have a name. So, both Trump and Harris are there twice, in some other races the candidate is in 3-4 squares. I am still shocked by this design choice. Hank, make a rabbit hole video about ballot designs!

[@PeterDivine]

See, _this_ is something I could get behind for a video. A confusing vote ballot format can absolutely be a well-deserved source of umbrage. Complaining about who gets top spot in a list that isn't hierarchical is as petty as it is pointless, because not only is it taking issue with a non-issue, it's creating an issue that ipso facto _no one_ is ever going to be happy with. Move the Democrats to the top, and the Republicans will be just as justified in being angry for being knocked down as the Democrats are now, which inevitably is going to devolve into endless arguments of: "If it's not a big deal, why did you change it?" "Why are you upset at us for what you claimed was an irrelevant change?" And frankly, we have plenty enough of that nonsense in politics and debate already.

[@N3rdfightermom]

Have you seen the West Wing episode where Donna accidentally votes for the republican? So relatable

[@iambear.6526]

Vote Working Familes. Keep "third parties" on the ballot

[@NCKMCMLLN]

This is a very unique NY thing! It's called fusion voting - where more than 1 party can nominate the same person, used to be much more common but now only hangs on in NY (and, incidentally, is probably why WFP is the only 3rd party that ever wins elections)

[@Anony-Mous]

​@@PeterDivine What? Have you... watched the video? You say it's a "non-issue", but Hank demonstrated that it indeed is an issue and affects voting behavior. You also imply there's no good solution for it, but Hank explained exactly what the solution to the issue was. Like that's literally the video. There was an issue, people identified the issue and came up with a solution, and then they worked to implement that solution. I'm honestly not sure what the point of your comment even is.

[@joshuahillerup4290]

As a Canadian, the way American elections are run is probably the most different seeming thing between our two countries

[@verdant_warlock]

How do Canadian elections work?

[@joshuahillerup4290]

@@verdant_warlock the provincial, federal, and municipal elections are all separate on different days entirely. They're administered by Elections Canada, a federal non partisan agency that isn't part of the executive branch. The ballots are very standardized, and are designed with hand counting in mind although municipal and maybe now provincial elections do have electronic readers for counting as it goes into the physical ballot box (but it's still designed for an additional hand count if the results are close or contested)

[@toin9898]

Seeing massive lineups even for early voting in the US when I've never even seen a line of more than 4 people at a day-of polling station... yikes.

[@joshuahillerup4290]

@@toin9898 I've had to line up at a maximum of 30 minutes to vote on election day, but that's been not common at all, usually there's no lineup

[@jamesphillips2285]

@@joshuahillerup4290 Small correction: the provinces and smaller jurisdictions have their own election authorities as well for their local elections. Elections Canada just handles federal elections.

[@Pestsoutwest]

(AAA Towing) and (A1 tax services) knew being first in the phone book would give you a huge bump in business... The meta doesn't change, just the forum that it is held in.

[@PenneySounds]

This actually reminded me to double-check where and when I'm going to vote. I'm just northwest of you in the province of British Columbia, and our provincial election is tomorrow. This was well timed.

[@hlas_hlas]

Just googled it - in Virginia, it’s whichever candidate completes filing first.

[@ellieisanerd]

So weird to think that each state can choose how they want to operate a federal election.

[@jebeda]

Technically I think that they are not federal elections, rather they are state elections of people to represent the voter at the federal gatherings: congress and the electoral college.

[@vlogbrothers]

They aren't operating a federal election though! They're operating a state election and then letting the federal government know how it went.The people do not elect the president, the states do!

[@trickvro]

It's a weird relic of the fact that each state is told, "Okay, you get 2 senators, x number of House representatives, and x+2 Electoral College votes. You decide how you pick 'em, and just let us know who you picked!" It would be a really good idea to standardize it a little more than that.

[@NocturnalNick]

@@trickvro I mean, it's in the name of the country, I don't know that it's a weird relic

[@SophiaAphrodite]

@@NocturnalNick you forgot the "of America" part, just like the 2nd amendment people for get the "well-regulated militia" part. The states are united under the regulations of the federal government. Just like guns are regulated under militias.

[@angelapotter8084]

I got my ballot yesterday, and in Utah there's a person on the ballot for President whose name is "Justin Case." I had to Google it to make sure it was real. 😅

[@dirtbaggins892]

Ha! Who's his running mate? Janeva Knowes! HA!

[@TenThousandDoors]

That's so interesting! Kamala Harris was listed first on mine, and it did make me wonder why that was. I didn't think all the ballots were like mine, but didn't realize people did science about it. Love it.

[@CZpersi]

I am still astonished to see, how complicated the voting in America is. Here in Czechia, every adult citizen is also automatically an elligible voter. No registration, no voter suppression. Ballots get delivered to every citizen by mail, or you can just ask for replacement ones in the voting room after you show your ID.

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

That is so much easier!

[@skinwalker69420]

I wish this was how it worked here, though I don't know if such a system could work at scale, as the Czech Republic is about the size of just one state in the US. Perhaps if every state handled it individually? I hate the closed primary system we use too, because the registration thing is more of a process of choosing which party you want to vote for in the primaries, to determine who the party will run as their nominee.

[@rowejon]

Very similar here in the Netherlands. If you're an eligible voter you get sent your voting pass. That & your valid ID lets you vote.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

"Here in Czechia, every adult citizen is also automatically an elligible voter." Easy peasy, once you've decided on your borders and what to call the nation. ;-)

[@CrossoverGenius]

I work in elections and I say on behalf of all of us who are trying to make this system work as best as possible - thank you!!

[@austinc8176]

Thank you Hank and John for all you do

[@Yaslovesvenus]

I’m not even American I can’t even vote but this was very entertaining for some reason

[@matt45540]

Everyone likes a good circus 😬

[@vanadyan1674]

I don't often brag, but I have not missed a single election, national, state, or local, since 1994, and I am rather proud of that fact. Voting may be the least effective form of civic service, but it is still our duty as Americans to participate in our wonderful multicultural experiment in democracy.

[@untappedinkwell]

Ooo that's wonderful! Way to go!

[@dragonflies6793]

I really appreciate you calling out the impact of lack of trust. It's got me rethinking my own behaviors and attitudes towards institutions I'm a part of, especially looking at moments where I've felt really betrayed and isolated but where once I told people about the problem they were really willing and eager to help fix it. I think the times when change hasn't happened have made me pessimistic and distrusting, but I don't need to be that way. I don't gotta bring that energy. If I'm bringing distrust to an interaction, that can become self-fulfilling, can't it? It's more compassionate to myself and others to trust and respect people enough to educate them about problems, believing that they will want to help fix them. And if they don't want to help, that's on them, not on me for writing them off without even trying.

[@k.c1126]

I'm always telling people, it doesn't hurt to ask... So many times people assume the worst about others' actions when the other people don't even realize they created a problem for you and are willing to resolve it. Pessimistic thinking prevents a lot of people from achieving their full potential. Not saying that bad people and things don't exist, just that you can't assume everything is bad. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@moonbunny42]

Thank you for articulating that point about conspiracy theories, I think it helped me find a new way to reality check my OCD symptoms.

[@VHangout]

Thanks Hank. I am also in MT and something about my ballot bugged me too. You calmed me.

[@brianmiller1077]

I work as an election judge in Minnesota and I have a lot more trust in the voting system than before: Early Voting the person who checks you in is NOT the person that gives you your ballot Special machines for visually impaired or people with motor skill issues (think how hard it would be to correctly fill in an op scan with Parkinson's). These laptops in a box print directly onto a standard ballot so they get counted just like anyone else's. Ballots are paper but are counted by op scan machines - a physical record still exists for recounts etc. Number of printed ballots sent to polling place = Ballots cast + spolied ballots + ballots left over. Spoiled ballots are typically people using Xs instead of filling in circles or double votes for the same race.

[@aina3387]

As a former auditor I appreciate the controls.

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

Neat! What concern is being addressed by having the check in and ballot person be different? It's that way in my area, but i thought it was just a traffic flow issue.

[@brianmiller1077]

@@geeksdo1tbetter I wasn't told but I guessed it was so they can't give you a "special" ballot that's already filled out or something

[@blessedveteran]

Thank you for this video. I am in California and you are correct about how are ballots are arranged. I voted 💙, by mail, yesterday. I encourage everyone else to vote as well. 😊

[@darcyhagood6795]

I see your John Tester sticker!! I just listened to a The Daily episode from the NYT about the MT senate election, very interesting and I've got my fingers crossed for Mr Tester!

[@MrCrazy77123]

Sorry to correct this hank, but if you live in Texas DO NOT MAIL IN YOUR BALLOT. The Texas secretary of state threw out 12% of all the mail in ballots in 2020. If you want to make your vote count, please show up.

[@joellea-b.5519]

Happily already submitted my mail-in ballot!

[@dubhlinn2]

100% sure that this video originated with Hank getting SO excited about a potential hit tweet, then stopping himself and fact-checking first. Good job, buddy.

[@angelmaden1559]

I really want a “no confidence” choice especially when there is only one option.

[@grumblefkitty]

a: i love hank so much b: how does he just keep getting prettier?! c: i am so glad to hear you say this stuff. i *just* had a convo about how speaking up when a thing is wrong is how we change the bad shit 💖 d: i did lose faith in the system. i’m mostly keeping my mouth shut about it though, because i may or may not be wrong, but negative talk doesn’t help at all. tbh, i am still waffling about whether imma vote this time. my poll is small, so i’m not overly worried if i choose to go last second

[@realjettlag]

I hope you do vote.

[@minimarker3]

Please vote.

[@untappedinkwell]

Remember that your local, state, and county elections matter a great deal and your vote in those can make a big difference! Whether you vote or not, it might be worth looking up those local races to see if anything speaks to you.

[@AdamGianforte]

Nice little Tester sign in the bottom corner. 😄

[@johnchessant3012]

For an example of people organizing about ballot order this year, look at New Jersey's "county line" system for primaries. A relic of the political machine days, whomever an obscure group of county party officials decided to endorse in each race would be listed first, and all in one column as if they were all running on one ticket. So if the incumbent president was running for reelection, then all of the county party's favored candidates would be listed under the president, and all of their disfavored candidates would be listed under the president's challenger. Obviously super unfair and enough people finally tuned in and were fed up about it that it was abolished just a few months ago.

[@lhpoetry]

Sounds like Union bosses may have been involved...

[@AceBadguy72]

Thanks , this was really helpful and interesting . I'm voting early here in Kansas on Monday so I'll be checking how my ballot looks , Kansas is slightly purple so sometimes it gets surprising .

[@secretforreddit]

I think you might be the first non-political scientist I've ever seen refer to doing political science as just "science." As a political scientist, thank you for acknowledging that what we do is grounded in scientific principles and is important for understanding the world, even if it's not biology or physics!

[@riversoblivionstudios]

50 seconds in: did they finally implement randomized batches mailed out randomly

[@riversoblivionstudios]

Oh!! I just looked at my ballet and I think Colorado does this too!

[@danseremet]

I like your system! In Romania, the order of candidates is decided by a random draw before the election, but then all ballots have the same order. If it's a national election, the whole country has the same order. So no favour to incumbents, but someone does get to be first, thus probably having some small advantage.

[@poketopa1234]

A friend of mine ran for mayor at the age of 18 with no real campaign backing. The order of the names as they appear on the ballot are determined by dice roll, which he won. He was then severely harassed by the other candidate's campaigns until one of them found a reason to disqualify him for turning in some paperwork a few days late. TLDR the power of nudges and name order matters more than you think.

[@catman6089]

Thanks for explaining this. I just voted by mail a few days ago and I was very confused as to why a candidate I'd never heard of from a party I'd never heard of was at the top of the ticket 😅

[@PancakesTheDragoncat]

You answered a question I never thought to ask! I looked up my own home state- Maryland- and found out that here candidates are grouped by party, and parties are listed in order from most registered voters to least. Still kind of a case of those in power using the system to hold onto it, but I guess not in the worst way... (fwiw the order on my ballot is Democrat, Repbulican, Libertarian, Green, Unaffiliated)

[@yuvalne]

if voting posed bo risk to the ruling class they wouldn't do voter suppression.

[@WaterZer0]

It wouldn't anyway; only rich people can afford campaigns. Average person has no time or money for that, so surprise the entire government is old rich people.

[@dianew800]

Ohio here. Our ballots' candidate order is "randomized" too. Can you imagine doing a hand count of paper ballots with candidates in different orders? Yech

[@sasquatch2]

0:46 When you mentioned that changing the order with the incumbent no longer listed first influenced the vote by 5% was about what I expected. A couple decades ago in political studies, my prof mentioned that the Australians used a rank-choice voting system for part of their government, i believe it was the senate. They have to rank their choice for all the senators up for election. So if 50 are up, you rank each name 1 to 50. This is a tedious process. Parties publish lists so you can rank people based on the best desired result for your party. But about 5% of voters (the Aussies call it the "donkey vote") will simply go down the list alphabetically 1-50.

[@SomeoneBeginingWithI]

On uk ballot papers all the candidates have a picture of their party logo next to them, and the name of their party, so it's easy to find the one you want. Candidates are always in alphabetical order. You're right that is a type of bias, but it also maximises ease to find your candidate, and it's easy for everyone to know the order hasn't been interfered with.

[@powertechnical]

That is how they do it in South Africa. You can see the name of the party, logo and the person

[@unicorntamer2207]

I'm taking an intro statistics class. My teacher told us that Pepsi and Coca-Cola went around offering an unlabeled cup of each drink to people and asking which one they preferred. They found that it can depend on which soda is offered first. This ordering of names making a difference makes sense statistically speaking.

[@crschoen123]

In Texas the digital kiosk ballot split the Senate candidates BETWEEN PAGES in 2018 so that Ted Cruz looked like the only candidate. You had to go to the next page to see Beto's name. SMDH

[@werdwerdus]

every time i hear new information about Texas it seems more and more corrupt and authoritarian. i didn't think that was possible but it keeps happening.

[@moiradarling97]

Republicans weren’t first on mine but democrats were last and I didn’t have a similar thought. Thank you for sharing this!

[@AndresMonaco]

Overseas voter here. Already did my part and voted last week! Real fast and simple. No excuses ;)

[@chrisgoff1417]

For a wild adventure into these things I'd suggest investigating the Australian Capital Territory (ACT - roughly analogous to DC) electoral system. 5-member and 7-member electorates, preferential voting, and different order per ballot for both the groups and the candidates within the groups. There's good fun to be had looking back at the candidates/parties who tried their luck for the first few elections after self-government began, too. Headlined by the infamous "Party! Party! Party!" Party.

[@shadowmaster1313]

Before going full hare clark maybe they should start with regular preferential voting

[@dunk.]

order of candidates on the ballot and how it influences the results is one of those things i always wondered about!

[@Xanthelei]

We just got our mail in ballots today (Washington state so all we do is mail in), and I can't really tell if there's a reason for the order of listing candidates. It doesn't usually matter for my district, since we have 2 options for almost every position except when we have one. I think for Presidential races they're ordered by the % of the vote the party got last election cycle? Purely a guess though. The cool thing is, our county election official has a tradition the last few years of doing an AMA on my city's subreddit, so if I spot it I'll ask him about this! I didn't see a code and have no idea how to make Google give me real results anymore, so that seems like the most reliable way to get the answer.

[@EyeKahnography]

I absolutely love that the brothers start their streams saying good morning to one another.

[@pohjanvanamo]

"Everything is a conspiracy theory when you don't trust anything" I think that's hits the point very well. I have thought that it's the state of mind, disbelief, distrust, that feeds into conspiracy theories. But haven't quite got it focused into words so well. Thank you!

[@johnbartholf777]

That was a remarkably even-handed presentation of an election story. Hard to find even-handedness anywhere these days.

[@herronmt]

I also live in your town and wondered about the order, which seemed somewhat random (Tester was first but Harris was in the middle). Thanks for the explainer! i already verified that our mailed ballots were received!

[@allanolley4874]

This illustrates nicely how if there is actually a problem with electoral procedures people can notice (notice that the person 1st in the list gets a little bump in votes across many elections) and work to correct the problem detected. And this results in non-controversial straightforward policy changes. Whereas if you go looking for problems when you candidate loses and try to cook up a scheme to correct the problem, you are tempted to cook up a scheme to try to solve the problem of your candidates losing, not so much actually detected problems at the polls. I have worked as a poll clerk in several Canadian elections, I'm not sure we've ever implemented a solution to the priority of candidates listed on the ballots. I feel like it is usually in alphabetical order (checking yeah at least provincially). Which does seem somewhat of an oversight. Another win for Aaron Aardvark, first in the alphabet last in fair play. One election I was working on, two candidates had the same name. One was a major political party the other was some fly by night stunt candidate, who clearly chose where to run just to pull this stunt. It lead to very strained and confused clarifications we as elections officials could offer to voters.🙄

[@kawari5182]

I just learned that NJ has early in person voting starting Oct 26th if you prefer that over mail in for early voting. 🎉

[@RoseFire6]

It is hard to put such faith in politicians when you hear about gerrymandering and voter suppression. I live next to the Georgia line. Hear about their wait time and how it is illegal to distribute water is scary. It has never taken me more than an hour to vote. Still vote, trust me.

[@PyschoPike]

Made me take a moment to think of the order on my ballot (Helena).... But having worked directly with them, I can actually say the folks at Secretary of State that handle the elections are very dedicated to having the elections go fair, smooth and accurate.

[@Zhiperser]

I think about the fact that John didn't vote in Florida in 2000 like twice a month. Which says a lot about something that happened almost 25 years ago when I was too young to vote myself.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

"John didn't vote in Florida in 2000 like twice a month." Twice every day I don't vote, except one day every couple of years.

[@thoperSought]

they received my ballot last week! it's such a relief

[@nicklandkroon8182]

I like the aussie way of doing it. We pull names out of a literal hat. Its a kinda event, and all the candidates are there, or at least scrutinisers for each candidate, and the first name pulled goes on top. The last name pulled goes on the bottom.

[@rebeccafoster-faith6647]

Your bit about conspiracy theories has given me something to chew on...

[@cupcakebruh]

Survey? I like surveys. Where does one find such surveys? Edited to add: I voted today! I did early in-person voting!

[@untappedinkwell]

The Nerdfighter Census is released annually and is usually done so via an announcement in a vlogbrothers video and a link in the description of that vlogbrothers video. However the exact timeline for the release of the nerdfighter census is not consistent--usually sometime in the first part of the year, but not always. Congrats on voting!

[@curtiswfranks]

I voted by mail earlier this week!

[@untappedinkwell]

Yay! Well done!

[@manofredearth]

Get out the vote for Tester, we can do this!

[@johnopalko5223]

In Oregon, they permute the alphabet for each election and that's the order in which the candidates appear. For instance, this year's order is K, Y, W, V, B, ..., H, Q, R, Z, D. This ordering applies to all districts. I wonder if Montana's method is superior, inferior, or equally effective. Statisticians of KZbin, have at it!

[@penina8438]

Just because 90% of us vote doesn’t mean 90% of your American audience votes! (I vote, but im Canadian so I unfortunately can’t help lol). I’m sure reminding your audience to vote is still v useful and important.

[@amberbydreamsart5467]

hmm, true! I think if i remember from the nerdfighteria census reviews he can sort by filtering the rest of the question results by one group of people from one question - so it'd theoretically be possible for him to select 'only view people who said they're from the USA' and see what the percentage of those people answered yes to voting

[@alexkramerblogs]

I believe on the Nerdighteria census you can put your location, so he could filter for that against the voting answers.

[@brianmiller1077]

Minnesota is usually top 3 and we're 75-80% participation for Presidential year ballots.

[@WaterZer0]

Voter participation doesn't matter when only rich people can afford to do a campaign. A real democracy doesn't have elections; officials would be chosen at random. If you are worried about the average person's capability as a public servant, think about how many 70 year olds are in the senate. No way the average person is less capable than that.

[@Rubrickety]

You’ve played right into my lifelong scheme to creepily stalk someone who lives close, but not too close, to Hank Green.

[@EasterEdwards]

This mood in this vid is perfect!

[@deemon710]

I found a similar pattern in my state's ballot. I thought it was odd and concerning, too.

[@edwelty]

Thanks for the explanation. Very interesting. I voted yesterday here in Colorado

[@MichaelJohnson-mh7mp]

Bravo, the people of Montana (and beyond) appreciate you.

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

Wow, that's actually a good way to do it. My state has a list of "here's the order of the letters of the alphabet that all candidates will be sorted by for all races this election" and they randomize that order every election. But it does mean that for a given election, whatever order that randomization creates causes *every* ballot that election statewide to be in that order. Maybe this time it has "Candidate A" first - for everyone.

[@Adi_Gallia]

If you're in NC, only assuming because we do something similar based on bingo and coin tosses, it happens to be candidate D first this year

[@takatamiyagawa5688]

Wow, I just assumed that any remotely civilized voting system randomized the order of candidates on the ballot, per-voter.

[@395gallagher5]

Love the Jon Tester banner in the lower right!

[@carterhyde908]

I think since not trusting leads to being burned less, people tend to lean that way first. Pretty much all campaign ads are about making people trust the other candidate less. As a result of that, I still have no idea what either candidate stands for. For the senate race: the one in my party is newer, the opposing one used to be the governor so I know a little about him, but overall I don't really know what either of them represent. Bad things spread faster than good things, and until that changes distrust will be the first step.

[@amberbydreamsart5467]

I count myself lucky that between not having a tv and adblock that I don't have to see political ads. I personally tend to choose by looking up both campaign's sites, and ballotpedia to see if I can learn about their political past a bit. Usually, since I live in georgia and am a lesbian, by this point there is one political candidate who wants to take away my rights and one who doesn't, which tends to make things simpler admittedly! All things being equal, I think voting based on what a person says they want for your state and then being a terror later if they don't uphold those ideas is a solid way to go. For down-ballot items where there's less information available, I look at facebook page campaigns, see if google turns up any additional information, and if I can't find enough to feel informed I tend to simply not vote in it, but searching around does tend to warrant some good information. For instance, last election there were two people running for a school position where I couldn't find anything objectionable on either page, but I did a little more digging and found that the library board of the state supported one candidate over the other. My sister is a librarian, I know what values library boards hold and that I generally agree with them, so it's a group where I trust their opinion on who would be better for the job. It is a little more work to find facts about a politician's actions behind all the promises and ideas, but it is possible and even so, I think voting for the better idea put forward in the campaign is better than not voting at all

[@CaliRaveBoi]

its also the negative things are specific while the positive things said they are going to do are so vague and generalized is why you can't sum up the top 3 points of what they are wanting to do once in office. 1. make it better 2. build the economy. 3. make it better lol versus an Ad They were the worse when they passed rule 34 and see its negative effect.

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

Yeah, if I only learn about the candidates from ads, I wouldn't really learn much. I like interviews and the campaign websites better

[@Robert-yc9ql]

Our country is worth the effort it takes to vote.

[@mariannetfinches]

My friend votes from overseas, & although they received their ballot electronically, it turns out they have to print it out & FedEx it back. So if you're abroad, you may be in the same situation in which case get it sent back asap!

[@amberbydreamsart5467]

bump to this!!! I didn't end up voting in a midterm when I lived in the UK because the mail ballot process took too long and was too complicated, don't be me! make your plan today and start enacting it!

[@untappedinkwell]

+++

[@Hide.the.Salami]

That's pretty cool, they really DID work to fix that issue

[@karakai7159]

I filled out my first ever ballot this week and dropped it into the box today. 💙

[@peterlyon367]

The reason Hank doesn't want you to see his state house district is they are quite small in Montana. They represent around 11,000 people and in 2022 an average of 4,000 people voted in each election. You could figure out roughly what 6th of Missoula that Hank geographically is located in.

[@TheAechBomb]

I read this as '6th of montana' and was very confused for a moment lmao

[@vlogbrothers]

It's even more specific than that because there are city districts that don't overlap perfectly with the state ones! I'd guess that fewer than 1000 people got the exact ballot I did.

[@doc-erica]

If I knew where Hank lived Id rent a bounce house for his yard permanently. If hes ever having a bad day; bounce house. Bounce housesake everything better.