Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Oh, Canada.....Who Stands On Guard For Thee?

AllTheAnalysisThatWeNeed
NotQuiteMainstreamVille


The following are three things you should read, today, about the potential impact of a pan-Canadian voter suppression...

First - Alison to get the gist of the thing.

Second - Professor Anke Kessler's draft academic paper wherein she does a statistical analysis on the differences in turnout in ridings where voters did and did not report receiving misleading/fraudulent phone calls (just read the 'abstract' on the front page of this pdf if you don't have time).

Third - Brian-Michel Larue's analysis, based on Dr. Kessler's conclusions, wherein he suggests that voter suppression may have greatly contributed to the Conservative Party of Canada's ability to form a majority government in May of 2011.

****

Now.

I have not yet formulated a strong opinion on this stuff, either way - mostly because I have put off reading Dr. Kessler's draft paper in detail (and yes, it is a 'draft'; to the best of my knowledge it has not yet been peer-reviewed paper). And that is my mistake given that our good friend macadavy warned me to get crackin' days ago.

Anyway.....

Busy working day for me.....I'll try to get back with my own thoughts and opinion later.

Go read - it will only take a few minutes.

(Me, I've printed out the paper - I'll try and read it on the bus in....no bike today...curse this Lotuslandian spring-winter!)

.

.

2 comments:

paul said...

Interesting. Power off all day today, and computer fading, but looking forward to reading the Kessler paper tomorrow. Thanks for noting it.

RossK said...

I'm working on my critique...

Coming to the conclusion that I am only certain of two things.

One certainty is that the voter suppression MAY have impacted the elections outcome.

And the other certainty is that, given that uncertainty, the only only way we'll know is to have a full and wide ranging inquiry.

.