So how accurate and fair were the elections?

[Daneel]

I understand that the exit poll data is locked and blocked with no access until the results are 'adjusted' to match the final vote count. Although the democrats seem to have won on a broad platform we are less in a position to verify the integrity of the election compared to 2 years ago.

There are numerous reports of voter disenfranchisement or attempt thereof in heavy democratic regions. There were reports that voting machines failed in democratic areas in large numbers, or the vote jumped to the GOP if the Dems were selected.

But how about the electronic manipulation we saw in 2004? Will we even know about it this time? Can the democrats, now that we have congress and the senate, who displayed such a horrible we-dont-care attitude in 2000, 2002, and 2004 be trusted to institute the radical overhauls needed to make the election process transparant?

I am not at all convinced.

[ClintonTyree]

1. I'm not convinced either.......

but the public's awareness of the problem and an army of poll observers may have discouraged the RepubliCONS from their previously overt vote theft agenda. All in all I think it went better than 2004 but I'm still not convinced that all races were honest and fair. Paper ballots are the only way to take the machines, and cheating, out of the electoral process.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. We need to throw out the machines

before the next election.

There is no need for all this doubt. Paper ballots only.

[hayu_lol]

4. I do believe that Karl Rove is simply amazed at how well the elections...

went.

LOL!

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Rove's machine for stealing elections

has broken and can't get up.

With Abramoff sitting at his desk in an FBI office and Susan Ralston lawyering up, Rove can't pull his crap anymore.

[fasttense]

3. I am convinced the repukes tried to rig the elections

but the turnout was so overwhelming it could not be rigged. Except in certain circumstances like TN, their steal the vote campaign did little to discourage democratic voters and even when their machines skimmed votes over to the repukes it was not enough. They skim votes but you have to have a large enough base of votes to make that skimming a success. What's the use of skimming 1 to 7% of the vote if you are 50% behind?

I would love to see those exit polls.

[Pachamama]

6. I totally agree...I think the election was won by the Dems, most likely in HUGE numbers and that

the turnout was so overwhelming that it was impossible to flip the results. But the biggest thing that the Exit Polls WON'T reflect and where there were the greatest problems, is the amount of people that were PREVENTED from voting on Tuesday. Exit Polls only cover people who ACTUALLY VOTED! Take Denver for example - people were leaving in droves because they couldn't vote and waits were 3+ hours long. The Judge there denied a request to keep polls open longer. The Voting Centers ran out of paper ballots early etc.

I think the reality is that had all those people in Denver and around the country been able to vote who didn't, the blowout, the "THUMPIN" (as Bush called it) would have been far worse than what the GOP just got.

They know it too....

[cooolandrew]

7. The more I hear the details, the more I can only figure it was a miracle

[cooolandrew]

8. Well at the very least a miracle of the human spirit, we can move mountains as one

[bowens43]

9. Neither side trust the electronic machines.

We need paper ballots. I think that it's a bipartisan issue and the it will be addressed in the new congress.

[lapfog_1]

10. Without vote theft... I think we would have won

one more Senate seat (maybe two), and probably 8 more House seats.
Without voter intimidation and disenfranchisement, it could have been even bigger.

And without the Delay gerrymandering, it would have been a huge tsunami (100 seats).