When the polls preceeding the New Hampshire primary were way off (in a direction I didn't like), I cried conspiracy. Bart said maybe the polls were just wrong, but I wasn't buying it. Now that the South Carolina polls were just as wrong but in a way I like, am I crying conspiracy? Well, there may be a conspiracy, but I ain't crying about it, if you know what I mean.
Actually, I don't know. I don't know a lot of things. I don't know how South Carolina counts their votes; I'd guess it's the same way (or worse) that New Hampshire does. Bart's point may very well be correct. With the prevelance of unlisted cellphone numbers, it may not be possible for pollsters to get a representative sampling, rendering contemporary polling irrelevant. And I don't know what the outcome in New Hampshire will be. That "recount" stopped after recounting just 40% of the votes, and there's considerable evidence that the handling of the ballots was shoddy at best.
One thing that is clear though is that the state of electoral integrity in the U.S. is disgraceful. Looking at the New Hampshire recount, you see margins of error fluxtuating between 1 and 10%. That's just absurd. Everyday billions and billions of dollars are withdrawn, deposited, and counted in computer systems infinitely more complex than any ballot box, and there aren't errors between 1 and 10%. If there was, banks wouldn't use them. The U.S. doesn't even meet the Carter Center's baseline standards for free and fair elections.
Politically, I find myself in the strange situation of pulling for Obama but voting for Edwards, because I want to support his anti-corporate positions. There's talk that Edwards could be made attorney general. That wouldn't be bad.
4 comments:
I continue to subscribe to the inaccurate poll theory. And this is why I think it's wrong for anyone to cast their vote based on "electability." The pollsters can't figure out electability, and it's their job. So how could the rest of us hoi polloi figure it out? We can't. So, vote your coscience. (Which it sounds like you are doing, and more power to you.)
PS: I can't vote in Louisiana's primary, since I'm registered Green.
Well, I think especially in the primary season, one should vote their consience or for their ideal candidate. I remember it was out of concerns for "electability" that somehow the Democrats nominated Kerry last time, the lousiest candidate in the field.
Why can't you vote for the Green nominee?
On conscience alone I voted for Nader back in 2000. By party affiliation alone I voted for Bill Clinton in 1996 and Hillary in 2000 both times in Suffolk county, New York. Where did the conscience vote get me?
By the way, off the subject, is there going to be a fourth season to Battlestar Galactica?
Yes, starting in March, I think.
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