This Youtube hints at the complexity of their voting ballots.
Nonetheless, it would appear that, just as the Cons attempted to influence the voting outcome with the systematic targeting and suppression of non-CPC supporters, the RAPEublicans under the tutelage of Karl Rove are also using dirty tricks, such as giving people false information. Robocalling is but one tactic.
Twice in the last few weeks, voters in Maricopa County, Arizona – Home of Sheriff Joe Arpaio – were sent notices by election officials telling them to vote on November 6 in English and November 8 in Spanish.
Ohio Secretary of State John Husted, who is doing everything in his power to avoid counting votes, apparently defied federal courts yet again on Friday when issued an order that could invalidate legal provisional ballots.
Steve Rosenfeld reports, “Democrats in Denver are worried that their top local election official—who is running for county commisioner as a Republican—is not planning to deploy enough voting machines to easily accommodate polling place voters on Tuesday, particularly in racially mixed areas where Democrats are expected to do well.”
Florida Governor Rick Scott has also been a leader in making it hard to vote, leading to scenes like this – described as a 9-hour wait in what is obviously not a GOP stronghold.
Some excellent overviews, here and here.
Old-school ballot-box fraud at its most egregious was localized and limited in scope. But new electronic voting systems allow insiders to rig elections on a statewide or even national scale. And whereas once you could catch the guilty parties in the act, and even dredge the ballot boxes out of the bayou, the virtual vote count can be manipulated in total secrecy. By means of proprietary, corporate-owned software, just one programmer could steal hundreds, thousands, potentially even millions of votes with the stroke of a key. It’s the electoral equivalent of a drone strike. [...]
Meanwhile, the new millennium, far from delivering a democratic promised land, presented Americans with the debacle of the 2000 presidential election, whose fate hung absurdly on “hanging chads”—the little pieces of punched-out ballot so contentiously examined during the monthlong recount. Few Americans knew (and many still do not know) that a faulty computer memory card triggered this fiasco. Late on Election Night, Al Gore’s total in Volusia County, Florida, suddenly dropped when one precinct reported 16,000 negative votes. Fox News was immediately prompted by Florida governor Jeb Bush to call the election for his brother. On his way to a 3 a.m. public concession, Gore changed course when a campaign staffer discovered that he was actually ahead in Volusia County by 13,000 votes.
But the damage was done. Gore was cast as a sore loser in a hostile media environment. His effort to obtain a recount was described by Sean Hannity on Fox News as an attempt to “steal the election.” Meanwhile, George W. Bush invoked his duty to get on with the business of running the country. The rest, as they say, is history.
My prediction for the outcome is predicated on the RAPEublicans' manifest bottomless proclivity to cheat, lie and steal, as well as their deep financial resources from billionaires like the Kochs who would rather fund Romney and other GOP candidates than pay taxes for the public infrastructures they use or remunerate their workers fairly.
A stale-mate.
In poll after poll, county after county, voting results will be invalidated, then challenged by both parties as countless errors, deliberate misdirection, illegal procedures and outright fraud are exposed.
A clear *winner* will not be declared tonight. There may be days of acrimonious accusations and quite possibly, zealots like Tea Party Hatriots will lash out violently. It will be ugly, and a perfect reflection of what US politics has become.
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