Finals

It's finals week so I'm just discussing thesis judges with my mentor and working on thesis and studying government at the same time (pros of doing a government-related thesis).

Also working on the thesis presentation I'm giving after break.

Winter break update: finished the presentation, found this report for IRV as well. Also my mentor responded with thesis judge ideas, so I have to go chase these people down now!

Instant Runoff Voting

I sent in my term paper! Also I'm super hyper since some close friends got into their top choice schools and I got my AP money ($500!) :)

Today I researched some cons of instant runoff voting (alternative vote) since it is one of my top choice reforms.

The two biggest issues are money and technology. New machines have to be bought to count the ranked votes and those are sometimes programmed incorrectly, leading to lawsuits. Another thing that came up was voter confusion; voters not familiar with the idea did not understand the ranking idea and how it was being implemented. It did however save money by preventing an additional runoff race. The technology hurdle is a significant problem: this article says that it causes IRV to fail North Carolina's voting standards.

Before IRV could be implemented information about the system would have to be distributed. The issues that it faced in getting passed on local levels would not be as big a factor in getting it passed on a statewide level because the argument there was concerning a statute in which the majority winner had to be a true majority, not a majority resulting from a "runoff". There isn't such a law concerning of the presidential election. Also, there would have to an increased focus on debates to disseminate information since there won't be a separate runoff. I want to use it in the primaries too, since that is where there is an issue with multiple candidates.

Reading about instant runoff: this article points out that IRV would encourage the candidates to work together to avoid alienating voters who are figuring out who their second-choice rank candidate is. It will also help moderate candidates in an environment that is extreme and partisan. By eliminating "spoiler" candidates, third party ideas would get more headway, which is important for political debate and social reforms. This article also lists a litany of places, institutions, and countries that use IRV so I have to put those somewhere too.

NOTE TO LOOK AT CAMPAIGN FUNDING NEXT WEEK

Mr. Correa says I get an automatic 100 for turning in my term paper first. Since I have no idea if he's trolling me I'm just gonna put that here for reference.

We're really graduating

We spent longer than was necessary filling out the graduation payment forms because of several technical issues.

I'm working on a file that lists the things I want to put in my final class presentation. I also emailed my mentor about thesis judges.

Reading this paper. Notes:
The paper begins by discussing some of the benefits of the electoral college/ why it would be difficult to get it changed. The College favors the smaller states, and getting a law that changes it to pass in those states is difficult. The contingency procedure for selecting the president if the electoral college is a tie is also discussed (that procedure is unpopular but has as of yet never been used). The authors are concerned about the possibility of a Lame Duck congress electing the president.

Also read more Alternate Vote (also Instant runoff voting):
It is used in many places all over the world for gubernatorial elections, mayor elections, and in Ireland and Australia for national elections. I have to find out what some cons of it are, because it is also used in the US for lower level elections.

Then Mr. Correa distracted us with videos for the rest of the period...

Thesis Judges

The forms for thesis judges are on the Edmodo page today, so I will be searching for judges from now on.
Continued editing the term paper today.
Reading one of the papers I put in the "to read" folder.
Notes:
The plans for abolishing or amending the electoral college were found to be destabilizing.
A national primary would increase turn out but would result in the waging of a national campaign and minimal contact with the candidates, completely destroying any chance of a media effect.
The Delaware  plan passed the Republican National Committee Rules Committee in early 2000 but failed at the July 2000 Republican Convention in Philadelphia. Its concept is good (it splits the states into pods based on population size, with the smaller states voting first. It allows the states to choose between having a primary or a caucus as well) but it doesn't account for the geographically disparate locations of the states, which are a fund hurdle as well as a campaign problem because the platforms for the states would be different (issue focus is usually regional as opposed to population-size based).
It also extends campaign time, which causes funding hurdles to rise even more.
The rotating presidential primary plan splits the USA into 4 regions, rotating which votes first. However, Iowa and New Hampshire still go before the rest of the states. It addresses some flaws in the Delaware plan by grouping the states by region, allowing candidates to focus on regional issues and get to know more about the states they are campaigning in. Unfortunately, it may extend homesteading (focusing on certain states or areas, such as "swing states" in the present) into a several year cycle, since the candidates will know years in advance which region is voting first.
The regional lottery system eliminates homesteading by randomly choosing which region votes first only a few months before the primaries. Also, Iowa and New Hampshire are not going first. This approach does rely heavily on the media and campaigns would be national, which gives reason to the funding hurdle.
The modified regional lottery system involves an additional lottery to pick two small states to go first (since Iowa and New Hampshire aren't).

More product plans:
I feel some sort of paper will be necessary in order to expand upon the pros and cons of each plan as well as the details on how each plan words. However, the paper might have a pro-con chart at the end so it's easier to retain the information. Perhaps I can incorporate some graphics as well.

In other news, I'm scheduled for a thesis presentation on January 9th, after the break. I think since it'll be a shorter presentation I'll use my favorite reforms for each stage and present those and their benefits.

We're graduating... and I'm still writing my term paper

We received more schedules and ordering forms regarding graduation and senior year.

I also continued working and editing my term paper. I have all my citations and I'm writing my conclusion.

Update: while searching for my documents I found new papers to read so there will be more notes next class!

Update: finished! Going to edit and surf more articles now. I made a "to read" document to keep track of some of the stuff I found.

Term Paper, continued

We made the paper where the seniors are going to write their college acceptances.
I continued to work on my term paper. I will have to talk about the reforms at some point and remember to include four citations minimum.
Update: I am on my second page (single-spaced)! I have two citations so far.
Another update: On the third page with three citations (and again, it's single-spaced so far).
Also, I scholarship surfed with Michelle and Keilah.