To the editor: Assemblymember David Guttenberg’s proposed ordinance, to conduct a random hand count audit in borough elections, is intriguing.
There is consistent evidence that hand-counting ballots is fundamentally inaccurate. Study after study reaffirms that humans are not good at tedious repetitive processes which results in consistent inaccuracies in ballot counting by hand. Perhaps that is not the purpose of the proposal. The proposal may be to create a path in which a difference of beliefs and opinions can be addressed in a transparent process of civil discourse.
There are members of our community filled with distrust in our voting processes and systems. Aside from the election deniers, and those that seek to steal elections, this unshakable conviction has caused me confusion.
I was recently reminded that the oldest part of the human brain “the reptilian brain” is the seat of our limbic system. A system that drives our emotions and weds us deeply to our beliefs. This system is the root of our survival instincts, (fight, flee, freeze and fawn). Logic and objectivity are found in the newer part of our brains, the prefrontal and frontal cortex. Responsible for the ability to reason things out using logic. To study and consider the evidence presented in a clear and factual manner. When our brains are driven by the imbalance between emotion and logic, it is difficult to understand each other’s point of view. When we are so deeply divided between our beliefs, driven by emotions, and our logic, driven by reason, we cannot hear or understand each other.
Well-developed healthy humans should have access to both the emotional and logical centers of their brains. I believe that the Assembly member’s ordinance reflects a well-designed proposal that creates an opportunity for what Neil deGrasse Tyson suggests, “Differences in opinion enrich the diversity of a nation, and ought to be cherished and respected in any free society, provided everyone remains free to disagree with one another and, most importantly, everyone remains open to rational arguments that could change your mind.”
