usability bug chooses next president?

Another great analysis from Salon. Interface bug tips electoral college!

And another in-depth one from blogger Dan Bricklin Ballot Usability in Florida

A great analysis of the typical erorrs caused by the ballot at fury "That's textbook ready" as my desk-neighbor says.

Jakob of course, puts in his two cents in his spotlight.

A lot of the best analysis of this situation is coming from bloggers, which is an interesting phenomenon in itself....

From: Gleanings
To: voters
Subject: Gleanings: one story, but what a story

THE STORY

it's a story Tufte would love: due to a badly designed ballot, voters in Palm Beach Claim they accidently voted for the wrong man, and are suing the goverment for a revote.

http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/09/florida_vote/index.html
http://cnews.tribune.com/news/image/0,1119,sunsentinel-nation-82373,00.html

more
http://www.bushwatch.com/
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_2.html
http://www.tcpalm.com/_special/pres_returns.shtml
http://www.msnbc.com/news/466882.asp

both http://www.biggerhand.com and http://www.eleganthack.com/blog have pictures of the dodgy ballot, as do the majority of these news stories.

bad UI and politics

It's a story Tufte would love: due to a badly designed ballot, voters in Palm Beach Claim they accidentally voted for the wrong man, and are suing the government for a revote. The ballot is definitely confusing, with the correct hole to punch being the third, despite the fact that democrats are listed second. The other piece of evidence is the remarkably large turnout for Buchanan (the beneficiary of the error) in palm beach, which has been described thusly "one report has it filled with elderly Jewish Democrats, another, with jet-setters and blacks, with the black precincts furnishing Pat's votes. Take your pick, but none of these groups are Pat voters"¹

Could this bad user interface...	have caused this spike in Buchanan votes?

In depth
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/09/florida_vote/index.html

more news as it breaks
http://www.bushwatch.com/
http://www.cnn.com