Subscribe to the Open the Future feed
Okay, I Was Wrong
In my interview for Suzanne Stefanac's excellent guide to blogging, Dispatches from Blogistan
Hint to writers encountering blog backlash for the first time: the three most powerful words in the English language in this kind of situation are “I was wrong” — you’ll be amazed at how quickly opinion will shift about you when you own up to your mistakes.
I'm not seeing any backlash regarding my prediction that Republicans would be the ones crying "we wuz h4x0red!" after last week's election, but still: I was wrong. Possible vote-tampering seems to have hit both major parties more-or-less equally, and in the major elections where the Republicans might have made a stink -- Tester/Burns and Webb/Allen -- they didn't, and the defeated candidates conceded after a day or two.
I hate it when the world doesn't live up to my cynical expectations.
Comments
I was keeping an eye out for this. weird, indeed.
The original voting problems wouldn't be so bad is they did statistically strike both parties. But they didn't: alleged "errors" overwhelmingly favored Bush & Republicans. That was the biggest indicator something was rotten.
In the end, eVoting concerns are still valid - it's just apparently not being exploited this time.
Perhaps we just made it over the hump. In 2004, the margins were so thin that fraud was worthwhile for the Republicans. This time, so many more people switched to Democrat that anything short of blindingly obvious fraud would work.
In uncertain times, the most ruthless and degenerate win. It is only when the people develop consensual confidence that they can actually do the right thing.
Posted by: Nato Welch | November 12, 2006 1:29 PM
Actually there WAS initial backslash on free republic exactly as you predicted. Not sure where it went, though.
Posted by: Howard | November 12, 2006 3:41 PM
Yeah, we were wrong about the voting collapse but now more people are aware of the problems with the elections process.
You can't depend upon the apocalypse but we have to keep a weather eye out every year including 2008.
Posted by: gmoke | November 12, 2006 5:06 PM
No, no, no -- we should be *relieved* when the world doesn't live up to our cynical expectations. And surprised.
Posted by: George Dvorsky | November 13, 2006 10:53 AM
If the black box systems are not removed, the problem will lie latent until 2008.
I think voting by computer is a grand idea, but not without transparency and a dual printed receipt, one for customer, one on a continuous strip of paper per precinct.
Like, from burger king, or an atm machine.
Cost isn't the point. The existing systems were designed to be cracked.
Posted by: Jon S. | November 14, 2006 12:19 AM