It seems statistically improbable that the signature count for the petition drive for a referendum on partisan elections in Asheville should, for the last few days of counting, be hovering at the target, plus-or-minus single digits. After all, 6192 signatures, 1192 over the target, were turned in, and an alleged additional 75 pages of 15 signatures each were also stolen.
Suspecting innumeracy, but wanting to get my facts straight before publishing anything, I called Trena Parker at the Buncombe County Board of Elections. I asked if they were using any statutory algorithms or pre-prescribed orders of operations. Parker only assured me that they were using the criteria spelled out in the general statutes.
Now, the people at the Board of Elections are among the nicest of crowds with which one would want to do business. Parker is no doubt snowed under with the petition count, and was courteous to answer my email.
But still, there is an overwhelming sense of counting with the outcome in mind. I used to teach physics, and it wasn’t unusual for students to know the theoretical answers, and in spite of my telling them they would be graded on how well they read our low-tolerance equipment more than they warped the results to fit their pre-conceived notions – adults would still, for example, repeat the experiment until they got a data set closest enough to the theoretical values.
At least now, it appears that the folks at the Board of Elections, with ongoing input from the State Board of Elections, might be saying, “What if we count this way?” “Now we’re over. What if we try things this way?”
“What if we draw the line here for this and there for that and count again?”
“Now we’re under. What if we throw those back in?”
At least they’re not waiting for the highest bidder in the eleventh hour; but they’re not putting forth much effort to abstain from the appearance. Or perhaps they’re only playing to keep the masses in suspense.
Of all places, a Board of Elections should decide how it is going to count before it begins. Maybe after the votes are counted, somebody at the Board will have the time to explain to me that that is exactly what happened.
