For the first time since 2011 this state is doing something sensible and sane. It’s a very small piece of sanity, but a bit of goodness is better than 100% genocidal evil.
Via Spokesman, the Dept of State, which handles referendums, has made two SMART changes to halt spammers. Habitual ref-makers like Tim Eyman were piling up slightly altered versions, partly to enable quick switching if a court is likely to disapprove, and partly to reach desirable numbers like 1776.
When the “constitution” adopted referendums in 1915, the submission fee was set at $5.00 and the referendums were numbered sequentially within each year. After a referendum is approved, its number is removed from the pool to avoid ambiguity. For instance, marijuana shops are often called 502 stores after the ref that legalized pot.
The office made two changes last year.
First, the submission fee was finally adjusted for inflation to $156, making spam far more expensive.
Second, the numbers are assigned randomly instead of sequentially. The randomizing is NOT done by computers! Computer random isn’t random at all, and it’s nontransparent and prone to hacking. Instead, the office rolls 10-sided Dungeons and Dragons dice to get the digits! Astoundingly smart. Physical actions are the only way to get true random, physical actions are hackproof, and can be videotaped and published for documentation. As before, if a number already belongs to an existing ref, roll again.
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Adding on more appreciation: I haven’t heard of any public official anywhere who UNDERSTANDS real math and real technology at this level. Most are easily bamboozled by tech tyrants and financial tyrants, not just the latest AI crap but earlier proponents of bitcoin and online gambling. Understanding random is especially important in dealing with the arson contracts of Polymarket.
