Of course, the left has its own favorite election-horror narrative: the failure of electronic voting machines. The most extreme tales have the election of George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 as literally hardwired by the voting equipment in Ohio. These suspicions too are a product of election reform legislation gone awry.
HAVA virtually mandated that every precinct have at least one direct recording electronic voting machine to allow disabled persons to vote unaided. As more and more localities replaced all of their equipment with electronic machines, the manufacturers began shooting themselves in the foot. CEOs promised to help "deliver the votes" to Bush in 2004. Touch screens sometimes froze. Computer code was shown to be poorly written. The design was vulnerable to easily anticipated operator error. In addition, there were highly visible (if sometimes dubious) demonstrations by hackers, computer scientists, students and activists to show what could happen if someone with access really wanted to do harm.
But as Democratic fortunes have improved this year, panic about rogue voting machines has virtually disappeared. And it is clear why. With Obama's lead in the polls solidifying, stories about hacked voting machines no longer motivate Democrats. Furthermore, if Obama is likely to win, why hint at the possibility that the outcome could be subject to manipulation -- even if the opponent would do the alleged manipulation?
To be clear, for those concerned about voter fraud and voting machine malfunctions, there is plenty to be worried about. However, thousands of hours of analysis by dispassionate researchers have uncovered virtually no election fraud, even though the voter lists are flawed. And even though the machines sometimes break down, there is no demonstrated case of an electronic voting machine being maliciously hacked in any American election.
So, eight years after the Florida hanging-chad fiasco, we find ourselves in a deep irony. Elections undoubtedly are better-run now. However, a combination of greater media attention to election-system failures, transitional chaos and razor-thin election margins have increased anxieties. Unfortunately, as the recent turn against ACORN has reminded us, it is a small step from attacking shenanigans to creating the impression among partisans that the other guy won by fraudulent means.
