Fight over e-voting leaves election plans as casualties

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Inversion Test

This is a technique I have employed a number of times to verify to myself that my position on a particular controversy that appears to be influenced by partisan politics is sound. It goes as follows:

If there is controversy regarding a politician or politically active individual, would my position change if he was affiliated with an opposing political party? For example, if Bill Clinton had been a Republican, would your position on impeaching him have changed?

When considering a controversial court decision which favors the position of one political party and rejects the position of the opposition, would your opinion regarding the correctness of the decision have changed if the roles had been reversed? Example: the 2000 US Supreme Court decision halting the Florida recounts (Bush vs Gore).

When considering public policy (wars, legislation, etc), would your position change if the policy had been proposed by politicians of the opposing political party? Example, if President Gore had ordered the invasion of Iraq, instead of President Bush, would you still support/oppose it?

In this case, if Mr. O'Dell (the CEO of Diebold) had promised to deliver the electoral votes of Ohio to the Democratic presidential candidate, instead of Mr. Bush, would you change your opinion of touch-screen voting equipment accordingly?

This is not a perfect technique, of course, and it probably works better in a two-party environment, but I still recommend it to anyone.

John L. Ries

Posted by: John L. Ries   Posted on: 05/21/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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