My Ballot Made Me Angry

2024-10-18 · explainer · Hank · 6:13 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, civic or action cta

Hank's mail-in ballot listed the Democrat last in every federal race, which made him suspect Montana's Republican officials; he explains that Montana rotates candidate order across ballots so each candidate is on top equally often, argues that conspiracy theories grow from distrust rather than ignorance and that fair systems exist because people worked to make them fair, and urges viewers to use Vote.org.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank's ballot lists the Democrat last in all three federal races; his suspicion; California's ballot-order evidence; state election laws

★★ Hank's mail-in ballot made him angry: in all three federal races (five presidential, four Senate, three House candidates) the Democrat, including Kamala Harris and Monica Tranel, is listed last. — 00:00:00
★★ Since Montana is a red state where Republicans are generally in power, Hank's first thought was that those in power were ordering the ballot to give themselves an advantage. (speculative) — 00:00:14 · Montana, Republican Party
★★★ Hank says decades ago, when California switched from listing incumbents first to alphabetical order, an advantage of up to 5% was seen for candidates listed first. — 00:00:37
★★ Hank says such an advantage could easily sway many races, but simply giving it to people whose names come early in the alphabet is not better. — 00:00:50
★★ Hank explains that each US state has its own election laws, and counties must comply with them but can be creative within them. — 00:01:12 · United States

00:01:27 — Teaser of the ballot code; audience voting rates; Vote.org ask; the richest people always vote

★★ Hank says the channel's audience surveys show viewers vote more than almost any group in America: over 90% of eligible respondents vote. — 00:01:47 · United States
★★★ Hank points viewers to Vote.org to check or arrange registration, get a sample ballot and learn how to vote by mail, urging them to sign up for mail voting where available; he repeats it at the end. — 00:01:56
★★ Hank tells viewers not to let internet clout chasers convince them voting doesn't matter: the richest, most powerful people always vote, since it is the one way they have the same power as everyone else. — 00:02:10

00:02:26 — The two-part ballot code and Montana's rotating alphabetical ballot order

★★ Hank explains the code at the bottom of his ballot has two parts: the ballot sequence number and his district, which is so small he won't show it to keep his location private. — 00:02:30
★★★ Hank explains Montana's ballot order: candidates start alphabetical, then rotate by one per ballot in the sequence, so although his ballot has Democrats last, every candidate is on top equally often. — 00:03:24 · Montana

00:03:53 — Conspiracy theories come from distrust; fair ballot order exists because people did science and policy to make it fair

★★★ Hank calls the meme that everything is a conspiracy theory if you don't know anything overly mean: rather, everything is a conspiracy theory when you don't trust anything. — 00:03:53 · Everything is a conspiracy theory if you don't know how anything works

“everything is a conspiracy theory when you don't trust anything”
★★ Without trust in Montana's election officials, Hank says, he might have posted that Montana puts only Democrats last; it might go viral, the correction wouldn't, and people would lose more faith in the system. (hypothetical) — 00:04:08 · social media, Montana
★★ Hank says such a post would go viral by confirming the bias that the powerful want to keep power, which is often true: that is why ballots used to list incumbents first. — 00:04:28
★★★ Hank says the fair ballot rotation exists not because things are magically perfect but because someone saw the old system as unfair, did science to confirm it, then did policy to fix it. — 00:04:52
★★★ Hank says things are kind of okay only because people worked, thought and fought hard; though it's hard, making things more fair is worth the work, and he's glad of Montana's system. — 00:05:21 · Montana
★ Hank notes the rotated order applies not only to mail-in ballots but also to ballots in voting booths. — 00:05:35
★★★ Hank thinks ballots are ordered this way because election officials want results to reflect voters' desires as accurately as possible, which is good; he went from frustrated to a little impressed. — 00:05:42

00:05:50 — Vote.org reminder and sign-off

In the description and comments

★★ The description says Hank will keep thinking about the 'everything is a conspiracy theory if you don't know how anything works' meme, which he thinks is about 50% right. — video description · Everything is a conspiracy theory if you don't know how anything works
★★ The description notes that getting a ballot with Democrats all at the bottom was both unlikely and guaranteed: unlikely for Hank, but certain that someone would. — video description
★★★ The description defines conspiracy theories as one part distrust in systems, one part not knowing how systems work, and one part the universe presenting information that confirms anti-system biases. — video description
★★ The description says the three parts feed each other: complexity breeds distrust, distrust makes people misattribute the random to malice, and news media, social media and bad actors magnify it. — video description · social media
★★ In a comment, Hank says randomly ordering each ballot would require a barcode telling the vote-reading machine the order: buildable but hard, and impossible 30 years ago. — creator comment
★ In a comment, Hank says city districts don't overlap state ones, so he guesses fewer than 1000 people got his exact ballot. (hedged) — creator comment
★★ Replying to a viewer who looked back at the party order on their own mail-in ballot, Hank calls it extremely unfair and says it probably cost Democratic candidates for governor the race in Florida several times. (hedged) — creator comment · Florida
★★ In a comment, Hank says states operate a state election and report it to the federal government: the people do not elect the president, the states do. — creator comment

Threads in this video

restate · Does one vote matter? — Hank tells viewers not to let internet clout chasers convince them voting doesn't matter: the richest, most powerful people always vote, since it is the one way they have the same power as everyone else. (00:02:10)
restate · Does government work well? — Hank says the fair ballot rotation exists not because things are magically perfect but because someone saw the old system as unfair, did science to confirm it, then did policy to fix it. (00:04:52)
restate · Can election results be trusted? — Hank thinks ballots are ordered this way because election officials want results to reflect voters' desires as accurately as possible, which is good; he went from frustrated to a little impressed. (00:05:42)
restate · Is the internet, including social media, good for people? — Without trust in Montana's election officials, Hank says, he might have posted that Montana puts only Democrats last; it might go viral, the correction wouldn't, and people would lose more faith in the system. (00:04:08)

Mentioned

Central: ballot order effect · conspiracy theory · Everything is a conspiracy theory if you don't know how anything works · Montana · trust · Vote.org

Also: People: Kamala Harris · Monica Tranel

Projects: Nerdfighteria Census

Organizations: Democratic Party · Republican Party · United States House of Representatives · United States Senate

Concepts: alphabetical order · confirmation bias · Postal voting · sample ballot · social media · voter registration

Places: California · United States

Events: United States presidential election

Only in the description or credits: distrust of expertise · Florida

Also centred on conspiracy theory: Top 5 Ridiculous Conspiracy Theories · Top 5 Actual Conspiracies · The Liger Delusion

Also centred on trust: The Time a Taxi Driver Stole My Money · The Kony 2012 of Roads - Solar Freakin' Roadways · How Actually Crazy is This Mess? · Two Unrelated Destroyers of Trust

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