Reply #23: A general point [View All]

If anyone wanted to sway the election by adding votes for a favored candidate (and its variants, switching votes, subtracting votes from an opponent, etc.) it might not be too hard to figure out how many votes would be needed and where to find these votes (large urban areas, for instance). I think it would be harder to know exactly when to insert these extra votes. Inserting early would have the advantage of providing a comfort zone and perhaps a way to persuade people, if necessary, that exit polls are off. Inserting late would definitely look suspicious. Most sophisticated would be to match the time profile from the previous election, feeding votes in gradually over time. But that gets harder once you've chosen an area to get your extra votes from and perhaps a preferred voting method (one with no paper trail for example). Also, you couldn't match the prior election too well, because that would be suspicious too!