It was inevitable that there would be accusations of electoral fraud following last week's American election. Both sides laid the groundwork to lay accusations against each other. And it was also inevitable that the side that lost would be yelling the loudest.
Shaula Evans at BOP has a long list of links to articles exploring anomalies and people exploring the possibility that the election was stolen.
I do agree with Atrios:
... irregularities and questionable results are not necessarily "proof" of "fraud" and "proof" that the "election was stolen. " If people want this issue to be taken seriously they need to stop thinking that any of the information floating around right now - and yes, I've seen it all multiple times - provides proof of any such thing. Yes, legitimate questions have been raised, but I fear people on "our side" have started to confuse the legitimate questions with the answers to those questions they've imagined. I'm fully ready to believe that everything was corrupt in Florida, Ohio, and elsewhere, but thinking and knowing are different things entirely.
Some on the Democratic side may be tempted to claim that it's all evidence of a massive Karl Rove Conspiracy™. Maybe. And it could also be a combination of mistakes, glitches and, yes, fraud on the part of local, independent actors.
Some on the Republican side will be tempted to write the whole thing off as more whining from Loser Democrats™. I can already hear the refrain that followed the 2000 election: get over it.
Wrong. When Susan at Suburban Guerrilla, using nothing more than her web browser, can find evidence of 73,000 more votes cast than there are registered voters in a single Ohio county there's evidence of a serious problem whether it's through incompetence or malicious intent.
The debacle in Florida in 2000 left a lot of Americans lacking faith in their own democratic process. If anything, the long list of problems and questions that are surfacing will make that even worse. If you're inclined to tell Kerry supporters to calm down and don't be so quick with the accusations, fine.
But if you're tempted to tell people they should just stop whining and get over it, then you're obviously no fan of democracy. Every one of these problems needs to be investigated and resolved. The push for printed audit trails on electronic voting machines and the proper enforcement of software certification standards needs to continue.
If the deep divisions in American society are ever going to heal, then one basic step that needs to be taken is to restore Americans' faith in their own democratic process. And that shouldn't be a partisan matter.
Reading some of the stuff on Powerline and Free Republic, its interesting to note that they are also upset about the voting figures -- but their conviction is that the overvote in Ohio counties proves the Democrats actually were stuffing ballot boxes and sending fraudlent voters to the polls (this is what they claimed before the election that their voter intimidation tactics were designed to prevent). They believe Bush won by more than the vote count showed, if you can believe it.
"When Susan at Suburban Guerrilla, using nothing more than her web browser, can find evidence of 73,000 more votes cast than there are registered voters in a single Ohio county there's evidence of a serious problem whether it's through incompetence or malicious intent."
Wow. I'm all for increasing voter turnout, but I always figured that 100% was the upper limit.