h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Also, in the footnote where you say 'In Louisiana they're called Parishes', I'd suggest you rephrase this to 'Except in Louisiana, where they have Parishes, which are very similar to counties' or something like that.

Parishes aren't strictly counties with different names

The State of louisiana says there the same

http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/profiles/lafacts.htm

but I will think about a slight rephrasing for better flow.

Added a bit more on pollworkers in the Actual Voting Process section, I did have the party observers there before, and I don't think there is anyplace they aren't allowed, but if somebody knows different speak up. Also rephrased the parish footnote.

They said they're analogous
Not the same.

So did you read the updated footnote?

I'm fine with it, but I won't be told they're the same

I love a language were we can talk about "lead the band" and "lead weight" but get to quibble over "analogous" and "same"

You win and I still enjoy and respect your comments.

I love a language were we can talk about "lead the band" and "lead weight" but get to quibble over "analogous" and "same"

You win and I still enjoy and respect your comments.

Senators serve a six year terms -> Senators serve six year terms

(just a little nit-picks)

Nit has been picked

Wow! That took me a full minute to find the difference in those two!

By the way, FS, I'm working on an entry on A1233000. Feel free to pop by (and excuse the grammar - I haven't proofread it) and add your

This entry talks about voting for people for offices, but doesn't seem to mention much about petitioning and voting for propositions. Since I'm from California, whose government was set up in order to seize power from the vested railroad interestes, and where our Governor may be recalled from office from just such a petition, I find direct democracy interesting.



Convicted felons- Does the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor translate internationally? Perhaps change this to 'people convicted of major crimes'.

Special Districts- this is not self explanatory. If you explained them in your Governments of the USA entry, perhaps a link to it here would be nice.



You will be asked- would better read 'you may me asked'. It's worth mentioning here that there's no such thing as a 'paid member' of a party like there is in the UK. The rules and unspoken rules for belonging to any particular party's local commitee (and hence the decision as to just who is allowed to run under your party's banner and just who is allowed to be a delegate for any party political convention) are particular to the party, the state, and your locality. These (usually very) small committees are the source of all party power.

You have explained 'open' primaries elsewhere, but it'd be worth mentioning that you have done so below, while you are in this section.



The first past the post vs runoff election is not necessarily so for any particular office or election. It depends on just what thing or person is being voted for. Perhaps to be better understood by fat Kelli, you might mention that in some circumstances repeated runoff elections are sometimes necessary, and that no preference listings are seen in any but the most local (and quite peculiar!) elections. Sometimes in a runoff, the first two past the post are considered the available candidates, but this varies a bit.



parties are limited - should read parties choose to limit. This is the reason for the primary election, which isn't Constitutionally required, as far as I know. There are hundreds of candidates in California's recall, and there's no requirement that there be just one Republican, just one Green, etc.

State's rights vs federalist: this is a whole can of worms. It deserves an explanation or a link.



A blank ballot actually counts for something in Sweden, it means you agree with things on your ballot. 'Leaving a ballot blank in protest' has no meaning there. This should be explained, in that there's a reason for going to vote but not voting, i.e. you wish to remain on the list of registered voters and to keep getting your Sample Ballot which makes identification at the polls much easier. An explanation of the Sample Ballot would also help an Australian reader, because while Ozzies are required to vote, there's no provision to care just who you are, there.



There are reps from each party to ensure rules are followed? I've been a pollworker in CA, and I have never seen this happen. I'll bet that there's provision in CA law to allow this to happen, just that noone bothers. This may change, post 2000, though!



Equipment inspections- yes! This I have seen. Typically this is done by the City Clerk, or County Registrar, or the Secretary of State's offices.

When you say "paid party members" do you mean paid up party members. I.e. those that have paid their dues/membership fee to the party? Rather than people who are members and are paid to work for the party

Are there really "no" parties in the US that have paid up membership?

Blank Ballots. You may (or may not) be interested to know that within the Labour Party in the UK there have been some instances where the national party has excluded local candidates from being selected by local parties. An election has taken place within the local party but the candidates have only been the ones allowed by the national party. This often happens when there is a popular local candidate who has had disagreements with the national party.

When one of the members read the small print (after one of these contentious elections) he found out that there was a rule which said if more than 50% of the ballots were blank then the whole selection process would have to start again.

Added a new section "Other Voting Issues"




Good point - changed


Added a footnote.

Although this entry and the Governments entry should be linked the guidelines do not allow them to be until both are in the edited guide





Added considerably to the Political Party section, changed will to may

You have explained 'open' primaries elsewhere, but it'd be worth mentioning that you have done so below, while you are in this section.









true, fixed



Hopefully this will eventually be linked to the governments entry, this entry is more on the nuts and bolts of how not why.





added "casting no vote"





changed will to may





added a bit about challenging elections, are the inspections you've seen before or after the election?

Vestboy reloaded-

I've been registered Republican, Reform and Green (which I am currently), and know some crazy folks who are Peace & Freedom, Libertarian, and Democratic. I don't know anything about the American Independent party except that they seem to attract a larger-than-fair-share of Scientologists and Survivalists both at the same time. None of these parties have the 'paid up' concept like you seem to have in the UK, where there is an identification card in your wallet that you pay dues for.



The entry on UK government, and the conversations I have started after it don't say much about local politics, which surprised me considerably considering just how tiny your MP seats are. I got the impression that the locals had no say of any kind whatsoever on who stands for your seat, and that you are voting strictly for the party and whoever the party decides to stand for that seat, no matter where the candidate that is doing the standing actually comes from or believes. I also got the impression that a party could move MPs around from seat to seat as it pleased. Are these not true?

Neither of these things would be remotely allowed in the US of A. I hope it doesn't look as if it would from what FS has written!

The inspections I have seen are before the election day, and then again by the designated poll-worker foreman on site. There might be others, but I haven't witnessed them.



Under Political Parties

undue influence-there's some Supreme Court action going on right now in regards to this very sentence! The government *usually* enforces a maximum, but usually to individuals and to individual referenda. This is where PACs are 'useful'. I know in California, it typically takes an investigation and complaint by private person(s) before the State will take any kind of legal action on this kind of thing. There's still no national limitations at all to what you can donate to a political party. This is called soft money, and it can be quite large indeed.

This section might read more easily if it were broken up. I suggest a paragraph split after 'how much to donate'.



Other Voting Issues. There are six different kinds of proposition in California, each with its own name. It's probably no less acurate to call them referenda, which is how they act without the fancy names attached.



Voting Process- this also would benefit for being broken up. I suggest a paragraph break before 'huge staff'.

I have been hleping FloridaSailor on his 'Governments of the United States' entry, and I think now we have gone around the article and read it over enough times that I am too close to it to spot anything obviously confusing or downright wrong. I'd be grateful if some of you kind foreigners whow have commented here would pop over and have a look. Then there'd be two superb entries awaiting the end of Petunia.

Please?

Updated. I reworked the political party section a little to let it split better and clarified the donation limits.

How about this for a pedantic nitpick. I don't mind if you ignore it. Referendum is a gerund and so the plural is referendums - not referenda.