Ballot Addendum

[marcmagus]

If anybody looked closely, they may have noticed an oddity to the ordering for the Alderman-at-Large candidates. They were sorted alphabetically, but the incumbents were all listed before the one non-incumbent candidate. Presumably the sort is, in fact, list all incumbent candidates in alphabetical order followed by all other candidates in alphabetical order.

I have mixed feelings about the alphabetizing thing. It has some screwy effects in terms of giving some people an advantage over others, which is bad. It also makes it easier for people to find the name they're looking for, which is good. Thus, while I have some temptation to suggest listing them in a random order, I'm not sure the confusion is worth it.

However, the confusion caused by pulling one candidate out of alphabetical order in order to demote them is definitely not worth it. I can't think of any benefit to this [except that it gives an advantage to incumbents, which they already have; not a benefit in my book]. It's confusing and it distorts results. This is bad organization, people.