Folks, for the longest time I've had a feeling in my gut that this year's election would become a fiasco that would trump the nonsense in Florida four years ago. So many factors figured into that thought: proliferation of electronic voting, the polarisation and animosity between each side, a few other things.
Well boys and girls, here we go fast and furious...
And there's some positively scary things running through my mind about what might come down the pike next. But first, something from earlier tonight and guess what? It's about those bloody Diebold machines.
About 11 PM last night a friend sent me this link to Oliver Willis' blog. This is a screengrab that was made as live election results were coming in earlier this evening from Hamilton County, Ohio. Whoever this David Keith Cobb guy is, he was not only beating George W. Bush but he managed to get tie John Kerry ballot-for-ballot at the same time...
Now, I'm juste a mite curious enough to ask aloud: What the Hell is going on here?! May be worth noting that, apparently, Hamilton County was using Diebold equipment to vote on.
Maybe it's just a minor glitch. Or maybe it indicates data management of a more intentional nature. Hey, Diebold's CEO promised in August 2003 that he and his company were "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
Was he being literal about that?
It's definitely something to be investigated, if for no other reason than to make the hardware and software more reliable for future elections... if electronic voting devices are used for future elections at all. And if an investigation yields evidence that the voting tabulation was "massaged", well... heads should roll. Anybody got an axe?
Anyhoo, right now Ohio is looking at an 11-day interim before they can open up what might be as many as 300,000 provisional ballots that could tip this thing in either Bush's direction or Kerry's. We also gotta keep an eye on Florida: 2 million absentee and provisional ballots haven't been counted there yet. That's two hotspots at least that have flared up this election... and no telling how this is going to end.
Meanwhile, somewhere high above the darkened landscape of the American prarie, an airplane loaded with Kerry/Edwards lawyers is hurdling through the night sky toward Ohio...
On the plus side of things, Dan Rather's wit has never been so rapier-sharp as it is this morning :-)
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