OT: interesting personal story from the Iowa Caucus

This isn't a Kerry story, but I had told you that my daughter would be attending the Iowa Caucus in Ames. She told me today that in her precinct they had a total of 273 attending, and that Edwards and Obama's votes came to a tie: 92-92, with Clinton below that. I don't understand all the rules and details, but they had to flip a coin to determine which way the tie-breaking vote would go--and it went for Obama.

What this taught her that night was huge: if she hadn't gone that night, the vote would have gone for Edwards 92-91. One vote made a difference. One vote has power. One vote. What a great lesson for a 24-year-old to learn.

Obama would have won the caucuses anyway, but who knows, the percentages might have changed, giving Edwards a higher number. Maybe not, but it's interesting to see how close it comes sometimes.

And it's important to remember that lesson.

I just started to read the cover story in today's NY Times magazine, but had to put it down. It made me sick. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/magazine/06Vote-t.html

And people keep on blaming Kerry??

Young people need to stay involved, and not let stories like that one derail their enthusiasm. I'm so glad your daughter was able to make a difference.

Kind of sad that the folks who would seem best positioned to understand why electronic voting is a bad idea, were relegated to "the fringe".

:banghead:

(as a computer geek I completely concur with this. And many computer geeks TRIED to tell them.)

One day it will be common knowledge: how back in the early 00s people were naive enough to believe in primitive electronic voting machines, and how power-hungry, evil Americans stole the vote from at least two good and decent presidential candidates before people woke up out of their collective fog and denial about it. Let's hope that history shows JK to be the last of those good and decent candidates.

This may be the year that enough new young voters come out to create a theft-proof majority (what do we need--65-75% maybe?). I know the polling places in 2006 were filled with them and they made a difference then. We must not assume that nobody tried to rig any machines in '06.

but I also find it a bit disturbing that the fate of the free world could possibly be decided by the flip of a coin. (And I would say the same regardless of who one the coin toss.)

and a great lesson.

There are often local races where one vote changes the outcome, or the votes of a family who go to vote together.