VOTING

Last week when I learned which candidates had won in our local primary election, I couldn’t help but compare the similarities between political elections and photo contest elections, like www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions. More often then not, the voters do not select the best of all candidates or the best of all photos.

The woman who won in the primary was not the most experienced or qualified candidate, but the one with the most money to spend on advertising. Similarly, the photos that win are often not the best, but rather those that belong to people who can send out the most emails to solicit the most votes for their photos.

In the presidential election we have an electoral college to provide a greater level of fairness. To create fairness in the Funny Photo Contest, the winner needs more than just the most votes. When voting is complete, judges pick the winner from among the five photos that receive the most votes. Nevertheless, neither an electoral college nor judges can insure that the winners are the best of the candidates or photos. And so, until some new process is created, the best is not always the best.