Alpha Errors on Mitch Hawker's Steel Coaster Ballots

I am wondering what to do to fix this problem as it appears on my ballot at http://www.ushsho.com/processedsteelballots2006.htm (My ballot is in the 300s). It is an error listed past where I voted on SheiKra. But I check to see if they're any spelling errors I didn't find any. I have noticed that it is on most everyone else ballots too so something major may be wrong with the polling system. I am wondering what is going on, I don't know if my ballot is gonna be counted right.

Chris Knight

Did you try e-mailing Mitch?

884 Coasters, 34 States, 7 Countries
http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com My YouTube

The same thing appears on my ballot. I think it is just the result of ranking two coasters in the same order that they are originally in. For example, if you rank Sooperdooperlooper #10 and Storm Runner #11, the Alpha thing shows up since Storm Runner is right below Sooperdooperlooper on the blank ballot.

I was wondering what "Alpha" meant as well, since it appears several times on my ballot too.

I survived a Japanese typhoon and the Togo flat ride of death!!!!!!

He might be using it to find ballots like #68 who may not appear to be voting properly.

As in Alphabetical. It appears when coasters are voted in the the Alphabetical order in which they appear at the park.

Would be my guess.

</speculatory statement>

From Emails From Mitch Hawker:<speculatory statement>
ME: I am wondering after looking trough my ballot and many other ballot of all the errors that say Alpha on it. I looked through mine and saw no spelling errors so something may be wrong with your balloting system. Please tell me what is going on here.
Mitch: Chris,
The Alpha indicator helps me find ballots that have an alphabetical bias.
Ballots with a lot of it may be subject to some deletion of alpha biased
sections before the final results will be calculated.
This is to protect the integrity of the poll from any bias that may ensue
from the default ordering generated by the CoasterFanatics.com helper.

ME: Yea but the alpha error that is listed on my Ballot is where I voted intentionally in that order. Will it still count?
Mitch: Yes, only ballots with 3 or 4 in a row will be looked at more closely.

There you have it. So if you don't have many of these in a row your vote would still count. If you do have these errors in a row and still want it to count I sugguest emailing Mitch about it.

Chris Knight

Good work, Chris.