Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Poor Analysis

In our morning paper, the editorial suggests that people who vote early tend to vote against tax increases. This is based on a study done at the University of Pennsylvania. I want to track down the research to see if the researchers made the same error in logic the RJ editorial board did. They think that, since the people who voted on election day were more likely to vote for taxes, we could discourage people from voting early to make sure they vote in favor of our next school bond.

Um? Does anyone really think that if you prevent people from voting early, they'll change their vote? Couldn't it just be that people who are against raising taxes are eager to rush to vote? If you somehow discourage them from voting early, will that make them suddenly tax friendly? I've read the article twice, searching for signs of sarcasm but don't find them. If the editors are serious, they need to go take a basic logic course.

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