Loonyism Referendum Tracker

[Associate Justice PiT]

I would not be opposed to providing a translator to any voter who needs one. My vote, though, is about making things easier for the SoFE. Otherwise, I'd just be enabling  a bunch of people . . . It's about common sense and practicality.

I concur with that - it was quite close to my reasoning as well. The language thing to me has more to do with people wanting to take the Greek and Russian and really carry it too far. Further, I personally don't mind a bit of goofing around (joke votes, for example, carried to excess I just wouldn't count), my issue always tends to be with goofing around for the sake of goofing around because people inclined to do it usually don't respect restraint. Then it just gets in the way and becomes annoying. It would be tough enough, I think, to keep track of all the username changes.

     I have conducted elections with foreign language ballots, and I must say that it becomes quite problematic. Sometimes I cannot readily identify the language and Google doesn't help. It will think the ballot is in one language, but then Google Translate has nothing to say about the ballot, nor does any other online translator I can find. I wouldn't wish this hassle on homelycooking, or any other SoFE for that matter.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I have conducted elections with foreign language ballots, and I must say that it becomes quite problematic. Sometimes I cannot readily identify the language and Google doesn't help. It will think the ballot is in one language, but then Google Translate has nothing to say about the ballot, nor does any other online translator I can find. I wouldn't wish this hassle on homelycooking, or any other SoFE for that matter.

I'm gonna call hogwash on this one. The IDS has probably had more foreign language ballots cast as of recent than any other region. At least within the past year, any ballot which you have counted, I have as well, and I've never came across a serious ballot that was somehow non-translatable or otherwise unclear to the point of having a legitimate reason for invalidation.

Obviously there are ballots that are sometimes cast that clearly do not have any actual preference designated, but that is a different story. This initiative does not guarantee those sorts of ballots any different treatment than they would receive now.

Foreign language ballots are not difficult to translate. Very few people on here are true polyglots, and as such, the same tool they used to create the ballot is very likely the same one you would use to decipher it. Sure, translating into that language and back again may produce a less than optimal result, but ya know, context clues.

This initiative wouldn't force all ballots cast in any language to be counted, but rather, it would prevent election administrators from automatically throwing out ballots because they've dictated such.

     There were ballots in recent elections that I was unable to translate. The record shows as much. I guess my translation skills are not as good as yours are.