Who says it’s an alternate universe? I think it’s this one.

Posted by: parallelized at November 4, 2004 04:42 PM

Well, the guy certainly tried to make the case. Too bad his central point is completely wrong:
Exit polls are accurate.

That by itself may be a valid point. However, as he continues with his analysis, it becomes clear that what he really means is:
Exit polls are [as or more] accurate [than the actual count].

And here is where it all goes wrong.

Exit polls are a sample of the actual vote. They will never be more accurate than the actual count - at best, they are equal in accuracy, and often will be less accurate.

He claims that there is spoilage, that is, votes that were not counted because they were invalid in some way. The national average of spoiled votes is about 3%. Here’s another illogical point: there is 3% spoilage in Ohio, because there is a national average spoilage of 3%.

Then he states that since another poll finds that 54% of spoiled ballots are by blacks, and that blacks vote for Kerry more than Bush, etc et al, women too, etc, if you count the spoiled votes, Kerry won.

Well here’s the thing about spoiled ballots: they are invalid. They are wrong. Regardless of the intent, they. are. invalid. Ballots are tricky things - if they are not 100% valid then they are 100% invalid. Attempting to determine the intent of an invalid ballot is to delve into the realm of mind-reading. That is, it is impossible.

I’m sorry, but if people are too stupid to cast a ballot correctly (barring any intentional deviousness on the part of the ballot designers), then their votes should not be counted. If someone is too damn lazy to ensure correctness and double-check their ballot, then they obviously do not care enough about the state of the nation anyway.

Posted by: chublogga at November 4, 2004 05:48 PM

Wizbang’s Jay Tea has one here.

Posted by: chublogga at November 5, 2004 01:17 PM