How To Watch The Election

[The Paperboy]

Not looking good for McCain unless the pollsters have really blown it:

 

[Chris]

The great state of Virginia is going to deliver this election for Mr. Obama.

Thank God.

 

[The Paperboy]

The great state of Virginia is going to deliver this election for Mr. Obama.

Thank God.

We'll know in about 60 hours.

 

[Caligirl]

Why is colorado shown in red? All the polls have it democratic.

 

[Caligirl]

Not looking good for McCain unless the pollsters have really blown it:

McCain's plan is supposedly to flip Pennsylvania. That would change the numbers, and if he picks up most tossups he'd win. They are putting a lot of speakers out there saying that Pennsylvania will flip, despite all the polls to the contrary. They are saying that Pennsylvania voters will turn out in record numbers to vote against a black man.

I am mostly concerned that this sort of talk may indicate shenanigans in Pennsylvania (electronic theft of the election). It looks like they are telegraphing that they are going to take it despite the polls.

Scoop: Election 08: Stealing The US Election

Judging by the polls, the Republicans’ best chance of victory looks like it will require them to screw around with the machinery of voting. They’re very good at it. Given the near certainty of record turnouts in next week’s election, will there be enough voting machines ? No. In Pennsylvania for instance, only two machines are required at each voting centre, thus ensuring long delays and the likelihood of people giving up the effort. Can electronic voting machines make mistakes and credit the wrong candidate ? Yes, as this account indicates.

Also:

Pennsylvania's voting rolls have increased by 400,000 new registrations in advance of Nov. 4, a rise the judge [ Harvey Bartle III ] called an "extraordinary" amount that could further test a system strained by the turnout in April.
Bartle wrote that "there is a real danger that a significant number of machines will malfunction" in the state and the problems are "likely to cause unacceptably long lines on November 4."

In Philadelphia, for example, more than 90 percent of precincts have no more than two voting machines. Elections officials there told the court that roving repair teams were available to address problems, most often involving dead batteries and broken printers, but that even these minor repairs could take approximately an hour to correct once poll workers called for help -- and that delays are even longer when machines must be replaced. During the primary, according to testimony, machines had to be replaced 15 times in Philadelphia alone.

Some waiting "is inevitable and must be expected," Bartle wrote in his decision, but "there can come a point when the burden of standing in a queue ceases to be an inconvenience or annoyance and becomes a constitutional violation."

 

[The Paperboy]

Why is colorado shown in red? All the polls have it democratic.

Not sure. One point of interest on Colorado is that early voting is even between Ds and Rs. Don't know what it means but there you have it.