Utah Senator Mitt Romney Thread

[BigFatMeanie]

I'm wondering if Abe is sporting not just a pinky ring but a CTR pinky ring with the shield on the side?

[Pelado]

I'm wondering if Abe is sporting not just a pinky ring but a CTR pinky ring with the shield on the side?

Also very common in the mid-nineteenth century.

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[beefytee]

So the caucus is tonight.

I don't know if it is statewide, but our precinct is using that voatz app for voting. It uses blockchain technology and supposedly the hyperledger open source framework underneath.

Uncle Ted are you familiar with Hyperledger? What are your thoughts on this? I'm guessing I'll just do paper ballots rather than sign up for this.

[Uncle Ted]

So the caucus is tonight.

I don't know if it is statewide, but our precinct is using that voatz app for voting. It uses blockchain technology and supposedly the hyperledger open source framework underneath.

Uncle Ted are you familiar with Hyperledger? What are your thoughts on this? I'm guessing I'll just do paper ballots rather than sign up for this.

Nope... but I have never seen a secure on-line voting platform yet. They usually all suck given there is not a clear audit trail record of things, not to mention the authentication problem of who is actually doing the voting. It is still a really bad idea.

Hyperledger is the idea of a distribution ledgers using blockchains... similar to the bitcoin idea. That may give the perception of a complete and secure audit trail but building secure systems is hard.

[beefytee]

Nope... but I have never seen a secure on-line voting platform yet. They usually all suck given there is not a clear audit trail record of things, not to mention the authentication problem of who is actually doing the voting. It is still a really bad idea.

Hyperledger is the idea of a distribution ledgers using blockchains... similar to the bitcoin idea. That may give the perception of a complete and secure audit trail but building secure systems is hard.

Thanks for the confirmation.

I'm guessing it is going to be a disaster tonight. Looks like all of Utah county is using it. The android app has 3 reviews and between 500-1000 installs so far. What could go wrong?

[Uncle Ted]

Thanks for the confirmation.

I'm guessing it is going to be a disaster tonight. Looks like all of Utah county is using it. The android app has 3 reviews and between 500-1000 installs so far. What could go wrong?

Android's application security model is a mess. In a nutshell, make each app run as its own user (UID) and in a JVM. Of course, the problem is most app developers build their app to use a lot of native code (so the security of the JVM is worthless) and to share data between apps they usually end up sharing the same UID.

[beefytee]

Went to the caucus last night. As expected the online voting didn't work and we ended up using paper ballots.

[Eddie]

I went to the caucus last night too!

If the state delegates picked after their 30 second campaign speeches are any indication - Romney doesn't need to worry about collecting signatures. I'll be surprised if he isn't a first ballot win at the statewide convention.

[frank ryan]

I went to the caucus last night too!

If the state delegates picked after their 30 second campaign speeches are any indication - Romney doesn't need to worry about collecting signatures. I'll be surprised if he isn't a first ballot win at the statewide convention.

Did you see any redhats?

[snowcat]

Did you see any redhats?

We had one MAGA guy who was there to represent the #nevermitt movement. He became upset and left early when his ranting was finding no sympathetic ears.

[frank ryan]

We had one MAGA guy who was there to represent the #nevermitt movement. He became upset and left early when his ranting was finding no sympathetic ears.

Lol

[Eddie]

Did you see any redhats?

No red hats seen. Trump was not even mentioned.

This is a relatively conservative precinct - I recall there being some folks speaking out pretty loudly about Hatch needing to hang it up, and not just because he was getting old, but because he was being viewed as too willing to compromise and not taking a hardline conservative stance. Ultimately I think there were more there for him than against him - but EVERYONE was nodding their heads in agreement with electing Romney.

Which was kind of funny - because they also had someone there collecting petitions related to the "count my vote" people. I'm not sure what exactly they were petitioning for - maybe to change the recent law that was just upheld by the courts...again?

Anyway - it's been that group who has been the most vociferous about the signature collectors, like Romney, coming in to steal the election on name recognition alone when there are "SO many other great candidates who better represent conservative values". So I thought there would be at least some difference of opinion - but everyone running for delegate who said "I'll be honest with you, I really like Mitt and he is who I plan to vote for if you pick me," won.

Chris Stewart is a favorite around here too. He should easily make it to the primary.

[Jeff Lebowski]

No red hats seen. Trump was not even mentioned.

This is a relatively conservative precinct - I recall there being some folks speaking out pretty loudly about Hatch needing to hang it up, and not just because he was getting old, but because he was being viewed as too willing to compromise and not taking a hardline conservative stance. Ultimately I think there were more there for him than against him - but EVERYONE was nodding their heads in agreement with electing Romney.

Which was kind of funny - because they also had someone there collecting petitions related to the "count my vote" people. I'm not sure what exactly they were petitioning for - maybe to change the recent law that was just upheld by the courts...again?

Anyway - it's been that group who has been the most vociferous about the signature collectors, like Romney, coming in to steal the election on name recognition alone when there are "SO many other great candidates who better represent conservative values". So I thought there would be at least some difference of opinion - but everyone running for delegate who said "I'll be honest with you, I really like Mitt and he is who I plan to vote for if you pick me," won.

Chris Stewart is a favorite around here too. He should easily make it to the primary.

I couldn't make it last night but my wife attended. A few people tried to hijack the whole process and ram through their buddies as delegates. It is pretty easy to manipulate a small group of people. The whole caucus method is stupid.

[Eddie]

I couldn't make it last night but my wife attended. A few people tried to hijack the whole process and ram through their buddies as delegates. It is pretty easy to manipulate a small group of people. The whole caucus method is stupid.

Apparently our county party organization made a rule that you aren't allowed to ask people who they intend to vote for, and candidates for delegate aren't supposed to tell you. Which was kind of weird. First "vote" of the night was to not follow that rule.

I think their intent was to say that people selected as delegates should be people who have not already made a determination as to who they support in the election and should be willing to do their due diligence as far as investigating all candidates before making a decision. But the way it was written and/or explained was fumbled.

Someone explained the intent - and that past caucuses have been hijacked. One guy said "yeah, my dad was running for county commission 2 years ago, so I came to get elected as a delegate so that I could vote for him."

I think the CONCEPT of a caucus is alright. I like the idea of there being few enough delegates selecting the candidate that the candidates don't have to be overwhelmed with the numbers and can have personal communication with each of them. I like the idea that some no-name person without a ton of money and who isn't well connected or doesn't have a known name but who is very smart, has great ideas, and might be the best person for the job can actually make it through the caucus system and be selected as the party's candidate because of that.

But like any system - once people find out there are games they can play to work the system, things get broken and good intentions go out the window.

I still like going to the caucus to get a feel for how people are thinking. For instance - I know the general opinion is that Mitt is awesome and people want him. I was just surprised to learn that was the case even in my more conservative-feeling area where they had people pushing the "no more count my vote" petition right there at the meeting. Mitt is going to win in a landslide. It won't be close.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Apparently our county party organization made a rule that you aren't allowed to ask people who they intend to vote for, and candidates for delegate aren't supposed to tell you. Which was kind of weird. First "vote" of the night was to not follow that rule.

I think their intent was to say that people selected as delegates should be people who have not already made a determination as to who they support in the election and should be willing to do their due diligence as far as investigating all candidates before making a decision. But the way it was written and/or explained was fumbled.

Someone explained the intent - and that past caucuses have been hijacked. One guy said "yeah, my dad was running for county commission 2 years ago, so I came to get elected as a delegate so that I could vote for him."

I think the CONCEPT of a caucus is alright. I like the idea of there being few enough delegates selecting the candidate that the candidates don't have to be overwhelmed with the numbers and can have personal communication with each of them. I like the idea that some no-name person without a ton of money and who isn't well connected or doesn't have a known name but who is very smart, has great ideas, and might be the best person for the job can actually make it through the caucus system and be selected as the party's candidate because of that.

But like any system - once people find out there are games they can play to work the system, things get broken and good intentions go out the window.

I still like going to the caucus to get a feel for how people are thinking. For instance - I know the general opinion is that Mitt is awesome and people want him. I was just surprised to learn that was the case even in my more conservative-feeling area where they had people pushing the "no more count my vote" petition right there at the meeting. Mitt is going to win in a landslide. It won't be close.

Yeah, the current compromise where candidates can get on the ballot either by the caucus system or by the petition route is great. Because I can guarantee you that lots of people used to abuse the old system whereby they could pack the delegates, get 60% at the convention, then win the seat without any public vote.

I remember seeing an internal e-mail from the Tea Party where the specifically planned to hijack the caucus process and they were going to have a meeting to train people how to dominate the caucus meetings. Bastards.