Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Irony, or Absurdity

Perhaps Bubblehead with his finely tuned sense of absurdity can help us categorize this. Below you'll see the ballot to elect a commissioner from the 4th district of the Idaho State Bar Association. Say what you will about lawyers, but you've got to admit they're integral to the process of standing up for personal rights and upholding the constitution. So, what do they require on their ballot? (Click on image to enlarge)



Yep, the lawyer must print his or her name on the envelope to vote. No secret ballots here. I suppose once the ballots are received by the Bar they become a public record, so anyone can see how the lawyer voted.

BTW, were I voting, there's no way I'd vote for B. Newal Squyres. For one, I think it's kind of pompous to use the first name initial. For another, I believe from personal experience that the guy is pompous.

Update: Per comment from scootermom, changed ballot to envelope. Can't figure out how to do strikethrough font.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You got it wrong. Attorneys must sign and print their name on the ENVELOPE, not the ballot. The ballots can be verified as coming from members of the bar, who can only cast one ballot. This makes sense to me.

Newal is a great guy. Not pompous in my opinion and has dedicated hundreds of pro bono hours to challenging Bill Sali's fatally flawed abortion bills. Gotta like that!

Anonymous said...

Agreed the name should be printed on the envelope. It's ambiguous whether a signature must be on the ballot, or on the envelope.

I was not aware of B. Newal's pro bono work challenging abortion bills, so kudos to him for that.

Pompousity is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

Thanks for the clarification and comment.

Anonymous said...

Not ambiguous Alan, its quite explicit. The envelopes are signed and the names printed to be verified as attorneys. The ballot is not signed or otherwise marked other than indicated for whom the voter selected. Once the envelope is verified the ballots are separated from the envelopes and counted. The candidates are not involved in this process. Many of us wouldn't care if it wasn't secret anyway. We usually aren't shy with our opinions.

Also I'm a person who uses a first initial, not because I'm pompous but because I'm a "junior" and my folks called me by my middle name to distinguish me from my father to avoid confusion. Many in my profession must convey confidence in our arguments which sometimes gets confused for arrogance. I'm not saying Newal isn't pompous but I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt. I voted for him.

Anonymous said...

This blog is hilarious. Seriously. Keep it up.

Bubblehead said...

To get a strikethrough, just put an s in the middle of your less than/greater than symbols at the beginning, and /s at the end.