One chance in a billion!
In two weeks time, on Sunday 26, we have regional, general and European elections in Belgium. The polling stations are manned by electors, not by government official or civil servant. This is to make sure that democracy is democracy. The assessors of each polling station are drawn randomly from the list of electors of that station. The draw is done by a judge. Voting and assessor duty are mandatory in Belgium.
The president of each station is, in theory, also drawn randomly. Except that the draw is "slightly" biased to make sure that the president has some competencies and that the stations perform correctly. In a Monte Carlo setting, this would be a draw with "Importance Sampling".
It is the third election in a row that I'm on president duty. There are roughly 1,000 voters for each polling station. If it was a true random draw and each draw was independent, it would be one "chance" in a billion to be president three times in a row. To come back to the "Importance Sampling", this gives me the impression that somehow I'm "important".
On the "independent" part of the draw, it seems that they are not really independent. Once you have been drawn and performed well, your name is on a "whitelist” and you have more "chance" to be called again. At last election my station performed too well: no queue in the station, first station to bring the ballots to the city hall and all paperwork properly filled. In some cases providing a good service to your customer can create issues, especially when your "customer" doesn't have to pay you and has the power to compel you to provide the service!
Just a small rant, but globally I'm happy with the electoral system and the supervision by the general public of the elections in Belgium. I just wish that, in some cases, the "general public" was not me!
The president of each station is, in theory, also drawn randomly. Except that the draw is "slightly" biased to make sure that the president has some competencies and that the stations perform correctly. In a Monte Carlo setting, this would be a draw with "Importance Sampling".
It is the third election in a row that I'm on president duty. There are roughly 1,000 voters for each polling station. If it was a true random draw and each draw was independent, it would be one "chance" in a billion to be president three times in a row. To come back to the "Importance Sampling", this gives me the impression that somehow I'm "important".
On the "independent" part of the draw, it seems that they are not really independent. Once you have been drawn and performed well, your name is on a "whitelist” and you have more "chance" to be called again. At last election my station performed too well: no queue in the station, first station to bring the ballots to the city hall and all paperwork properly filled. In some cases providing a good service to your customer can create issues, especially when your "customer" doesn't have to pay you and has the power to compel you to provide the service!
Just a small rant, but globally I'm happy with the electoral system and the supervision by the general public of the elections in Belgium. I just wish that, in some cases, the "general public" was not me!
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