Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Bark louder, little dog.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Let’s finish the job.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

He really is that stupid.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / WI Results Open Thread

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I don’t know how I’m going to survive election day in November. I’m on pins and needles with this one.

    ETA: Regardless of the outcome, kudos to Barrett and the WI Dems for making this close after being vastly outspent and down in the polls.

  2. 2.

    Heliopause

    Reminding everyone that even if Walker survives the recall there are state senate seats that could be flipped.

  4. 4.

    Turgidson

    So, how many votes will Waukesha County need to “find” to deliver this to the Kochsucker?

    I’m worried it’ll be none, but the anecdotes from the ground about huge Madison and labor turnout at least provide a little bit of hope.

  6. 6.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I’m feeling optimistic-it seems like Barrett’s made a real push forward in the last few days. Was that a deliberate strategy? If it is, and he wins, it was a brilliant one.

  7. 7.

    Yutsano

    A whole lotta red so far but right now I think they’re counting the small precincts first. And Waukesha County is lagging back in their count. Colour me shocked.

  8. 8.

    Anoniminous

    Good news for Barrett from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    Walker also appears to have lost ground among women. He lost women by three points, 48% to 51%, in 2010. But this time he is losing them by 12 points, 56% to 44%.

    IF this holds true Walker will be recalled.

    Right now, however, it’s Walker 58.6%, Tom Barrett 40.8%

  10. 10.

    lamh35

    EXITS: Voters who made their mind up in the last month went for Barrett by 30 points http://thkpr.gs/L1HMWS

    I want to stay up to date with updates on WI, but don’t want to obsess about it, so I’m watching Tron: Legacy. I’m not big on electronica, but the soundtrack by Daf Punk is pretty damn slick. I’m telling ya if ya want a good wordk out playlist, this soundtrack might be it.

    Also, it pretty cool the way they used old footage of Jeff Bridges to create his “younger self” as Clu. I’ve read that they used CG to create the “head” of Jeff Bridges 30 years ago, and used footage from back then to create Clu’s personal expressions and movement in his face when he spoke. They then had a real “body” that they used and placed the Clu head on the actor’s body and viola…Jeff Bridges in the flesh only 30 years younger

  12. 12.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I’d also like to point out, in the hope of keeping everyone optimistic, that Black Abe Lincoln is currently beating Romney by 10 points in TPM’s poll average. So if Walker wins and the chattering dipsticks talk about how this means Obama’s in TRUBBUL in Wisconsin this year, feel free to tune it all out .

    EDIT: Encouraging numbers from Anonimious and Lamh35 as well.

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    Oops. Three counties just flipped from red to blue. Damn this is gonna be a nail biter.

  14. 14.

    Raven

    This is the anniversary of the Bobby Kennedy assassination and of my first acid trip. June 5, 1968. (It was actually just after midnight on the 5th).

  15. 15.

    rikyrah

    I would like to thank the people of Wisconsin that stood up and fought GOP Tyranny. However this turns out…thank you

  18. 18.

    Jewish Steel

    My poor little phone can’t handle the above link. If anyone wants to post totals as we go along it would be appreciated by me and other mobile bound users this evening.

  20. 20.

    stinkbait

    So how soon after CNN declares Walker a winner will you post your “It’s all Obama’s and Wassermans fault because…bully pulpit…and she horded money…and drones!”

  21. 21.

    JGabriel

    CNN Exit Polls show a 50/50 race.

    I don’t think anyone knows for sure what’s going to happen tonight. There was high turnout, which helps us.

    But a close race means it’s close enough for Walker and the GOP to steal it. And I have no faith in the integrity of Walker.

    Edit To Add: Also, late, after-work, turnout helps us too, and probably isn’t included in the exit polls yet. So that may be a plus.

    .

  26. 26.

    Only the Facts

    Walker UTTERLY CRUSHING Barrett so far…looks like the exit polls are wrong, just like in 2004. ;) Another win for the Koch Brothers.

  28. 28.

    AliceBlue

    I just took a chocolate chess pie out of the oven, but I’m so nervous (and hopeful) I don’t know if I’ll be able to eat any.

  29. 29.

    eemom

    @Raven:

    This is the anniversary of the Bobby Kennedy assassination and of my first acid trip.

    Don’t really have anything to add, but it needed to be quoted.
    : )

  32. 32.

    Valdivia

    I mentioned this in a previous thread but I just want us to think once again about all the $$$$$$$$ these a-holes dropped on WI. I love the smell of wasted corporate cash.

  33. 33.

    Anoniminous

    STOP THE BLOG!

    Waukesha county is reporting votes! A mere 45 minutes after the polls closed.

    Holy Cow and little Baby Jeebus in a Manager. (It’s a set. Collect ’em all.) Could this be the Apoc-collapse?

  34. 34.

    tomvox1

    Not looking too good w/19% reporting and some big Dem districts already counted: 60-40, Walker. Other GOPers are up big, too.

  35. 35.

    geg6

    “On Wisconsin” was the tune for my high school fight song. I’ve been humming it all day. Unintentionally, mostly. I hope that bodes well. Either way, kudos to WI Dems and the Barrett people for keeping it close with Mr. Unlimited Corporate Cash. Inspiring.

  37. 37.

    Only the Facts

    Exit polls have just been adjusted. Walker 52, Barrett 48. Looks like 2004 all over again for you losers. MONEY is what really matters in elections.

  38. 38.

    Quarks

    Apparently latest round of exit polls adjusted in Walker’s favor. Le Sigh.

    To make the troll happy, let me add, CORPORATE CASH! There.

  43. 43.

    lol chikinburd

    I don’t even see this being called tonight. Possibly not this week.

    But look at it this way: if Walker does squeak through by a thumb’s weight on the scale — as looks likely from the dead-even exits and Kathy Nickolaus’s continued presence in the Waukesha clerk’s office, contrary to promises — this election won’t have strengthened him as we’d feared it might, and any honeymoon will be fleeting.

  44. 44.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @tomvox1:

    Which ‘big dem districts?’ The map I’m looking at says that Milwaukee and Dane counties both have fewer than 1% of their precincts in. The Milwaukee suburbs have reported relatively early-I think that’s part of why Walker’s ahead right now.

  45. 45.

    Evolving Deep Southerner

    @Only the Facts: Gotta hand it to you, Taco. No matter what fucking dumb-ass ‘nym you post with here, there’s never any doubt as to whether it’s you. You are perhaps the most un-selfconsciously pathetic motherfucker I’ve ever seen write words meant for public consumption, but you’re consistent, I’ll give you that much.

  47. 47.

    lol chikinburd

    And so NBC projects a Walker win. That is a shock.

    ETA: Dane’s presently 60-40 with nearly all of Madison uncounted.

  49. 49.

    burnspbesq

    All it takes is one Senate win, out of four, and Walker’s legislative agenda is dead meat.

  50. 50.

    stinkbait

    @Spaghetti Lee: It’s up to Cole to prove me wrong. He won’t. He can’t help himself because you can’t fix stupid. Maybe have to wait till tomorrow after Greenwald tells him what to think.

  53. 53.

    Only the Facts

    WE WON. VICTORY you fucking losers. The Koch Brothers and Walker win! At this rate Wisconsin will be right to work within three years! All your work, all your donations, all your protesting, FUCKING SMASHED by piles and piles of corporate cash, and there’s nothing you can do about it. This is just a preview for November, “progressive” losers.

  54. 54.

    Anoniminous

    2.99 million votes cast in 2008. 2.17 million in 2010.

    There has been ~333,000 counted.

    Chill while waiting for Dane and Milwaukee counties to come in.

  55. 55.

    stinkbait

    Game over. MSNBC declares Walker the winner. How soon before someone on Dkos blames Obama? I give it about 15 minutes. They will beat Cole by about a day.

  57. 57.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    What is the point of the Independent in the race? I’m pretty sure the votes would have probably split between Walker and Barrett, but what did the Independent even hope to get out of this one? Undecideds?

  58. 58.

    Only the Facts

    LOL go to bed you fucking losers. It’s over. The race is called. You LOST.

  59. 59.

    Ben Franklin

    With 17% in, Walker leads by nearly 100,000

    Walker spent what, 7 times the amount spent by Barrett? 70% came from outside Wisconsin.

    I’ve heard there was much complaining about the lack of support from the DNC.

    Have they conceded Wisconsin in November?

    Meh

  60. 60.

    Stuck in the Funhouse

    @Marc:

    Yup, called by NBC. Not a single poll indicated a different outcome, so that’s not surprising.

    Yes, except the exit polls that have it in a dead heat. I have no idea about the electorate in WI, except like most states, dems have strongholds in larger cities. that about always lag in reporting their vote totalls. Think I’ll wait a while longer, before closing the book on this one.

  62. 62.

    Only the Facts

    Game…over. The exit polls in 2004 said Kerry would win, remember, “progressives”? You got fucking killed tonight. Suck…on…THAT.

  63. 63.

    CaseyL

    Looks like it wasn’t even close. How depressing.

    You can blame the money, but money only wins when people are too stupid or disinterested to get clean information. Money wins when the citizenry has already given up being anything but serfs.

    Can’t fix stupid, and can’t fix people who like serfdom.

  64. 64.

    Hunter Gathers

    @Only the Facts: I’m not worried about November. Pussies don’t win shit, no matter how much cash they have. And Mitt Romney is the biggest pussy who ever lived. My 19 month old would beat the shit out that pansy ass motherfucker.

  65. 65.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Anoniminous:

    Will everyone please listen to this guy? Milwaukee and Madison have barely come in yet. At least wait til that happens before you start moping.

  66. 66.

    JGabriel

    __
    __
    Only the Facts:

    LOL go to bed you fucking losers. It’s over.

    Win or lose, Walker is still getting indicted. Why do you hate America and love criminals?

    .

  67. 67.

    handy

    @Ben Franklin:

    Have they conceded Wisconsin in November?

    Why would they? Local elections and national ones have different dynamics at play. Ignore the chatter that will inevitably happen tonight about these results, whatever they are.

  70. 70.

    Stuck in the Funhouse

    @Ben Franklin:

    Have they conceded Wisconsin in November?

    Nope, they didn’t get involved for the reason of giving the wingers a talking about to try and nationalize the WI recall election if Walker won. Looks like a fairly wise decision at this point. Obama is ahead in WI polling, and the goopers will try to make it some kind of referendum on their policies in WI, and nationally. But it won’t work, cause each state is different, and the economy in swing states is markedly better than the country at large.

  72. 72.

    Only the Facts

    BUH BUH MILWAUKEE AND MADISON! Fox News and MSNBC agree on very few things but they’ve both called this race. L O S E R S

  74. 74.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @John Cole: According to the map, now, with 30% reporting in the state, Barrett is now up by 20% in Dane, which is showing 25% of the precincts reported.

  75. 75.

    stinkbait

    @Ben Franklin: lol…you are almost there. You stopped just short of blaming Wasserman or Obama to win the prize. Go for it. Someone will. May as well be you!

    href=”#comment-3318924″>Only the Facts: Worst trolling I’ve seen in quite some time. But then again everything about this site is substandard so you fit right in.

  77. 77.

    tomvox1

    @Yutsano: @Spaghetti Lee:

    Hey, wishful thinking is not political reality. It could come down to a slow count with a rush of Dem catch up votes at the end…but Barret is losing in most of the counties Obama won in 2010. The math don’t lie. This looks like it isn’t very close.

    If it’s any consolation to you sensitive souls, Barrett was outspent a kabillion to one and that’s money not spent attacking Obama…if there is a finite limit to that kind of money.

    On the shitty end of the stick, we have to hear it from the MSM what this portends for the general in November, i.e. DOOM FOR OBAMA–WALKER FOR VP! And from the more hysterical lefty blogs about how if only Obama had done more for Barrett, they could’ve overcome a 20 point deficit on recall election day. Kill me now.

  79. 79.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Raven: OT, sorry ’bout that. Some of the 20 and 30-somethings at work were talking about the bath salts zombies and one of the guys said it’s like LSD that makes you feel so hot you strip naked wherever you are. And I said “You heard acid does that?” and he said yeah, to which I said, forcefully, and I guess with the conviction that comes from experience, “That’s just bullshit.”

    You should have seen the look on everyone’s face. Priceless.

  80. 80.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    @Only the Facts:

    and there’s nothing you can do about it.

    And there’s nothing that you can do about it, either.

    Mitt Romney is worth “only” $250 million or so. At these prices, he’s as much a pawn as anyone. And so are you.

    So what is it that you are celebrating, exactly?

  82. 82.

    Another Halocene Human

    @JGabriel: But weren’t a lot of those people turned away at the polls?

    People with jobs who don’t plan ahead to absentee vote area always getting screwed by these poll closing deadlines. Rather than letting everyone in line vote.

    Remember Ohio in 2004?

  83. 83.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @John Cole: All of Dane County’s results aren’t in yet. As of right now it is 60-40 Barrett in Dane with 25% counted. If everyone could get a fucking grip, that would be helpful. Jesus fuck!

  84. 84.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    Here’s another interesting chart, relating how each candidate is doing in counties as compared to 2010.

  86. 86.

    nodakfarmboy

    @Only the Facts: So, wait… it’s a good thing that corporations can buy and sell elections? And you think this is a good thing for the future of this nation?

    “The Constitution guarantees protection to property, and we must make that promise good. But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation…. There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done…Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs.”

    Teddy Roosevelt, sane Republican. I’m always amused when modern GOPers name drop him for their own purposes. One wonders if they know what he’d think of their current boot licking of corporate power?

    Yes, we all know the answer to that one is too obvious to require elaboration.

  87. 87.

    TooManyJens

    There are still people waiting in line to vote and they’re calling this. Jesus fucking Christ. I realize it’s paranoid to think the fix is in but what the actual fuck. This thing was 50-50, “too close to call” an hour ago.

  92. 92.

    Evolving Deep Southerner

    @tkogrumpy: Excuse me, just curious. Which shit, specifically, are you wishing fuckitude on with that comment? Just so much shit out there, you know, gotta be a little more specific.

  95. 95.

    Hunter Gathers

    Wisconsin voters want their state to be Alabama with snow. More power to them, I guess.

  98. 98.

    Only the Facts

    Exit polls lol…it is 2004 aaallll over again isn’t it? Are you reliving it yet?

  100. 100.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    @Ben Franklin: Obama currently has something of a comfy lead against Romney in WI.

    If the race is close, I think the DNC’s call should certainly be questioned. If not – their call makes sense.

  101. 101.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Walker has never won a 60-40 election in his political career. He’s winning in Milwaukee county right now-does anyone think that will actually be the case by the end of the night?

    My problem is I don’t want to be the guy who talks about conspiracies and vote suppression every time my guy loses-you just can’t do that every time. But Walker winning an election by 8 points more than he did last time, by a bigger margin than he ever has, in a state that doesn’t have such lopsided voting margins in almost anything? All the major networks calling it with less than 30% of the vote in? He’s really going to win 60-40 when the exit polls were 52-48 at best? I mean, if Walker was winning 53-46 in all the usual places I’d take my lumps, but this just does not seem right. Any thoughts?

  103. 103.

    Ben Franklin

    @Stuck in the Funhouse:

    With what result? This is a linchpin issue in a crucial Blue State. Ever hear of dominoes?

    Walker will sign the ‘Right to Work’ and this will fuel the Tea Baggers in other states to rally
    their troops.

  105. 105.

    nodakfarmboy

    @trollhattan: I’d still give a nod to Dwight Eisenhower. He was usually on the right side of the sane line, and his parting shot on the danger of corporate influence and unchecked militarism to the future of American democracy was a clarion call to reason.

    Alas, he might as well have been named Casandra, for all the good the call did with the already unleashed right wing forces beginning to mold the Republican party into it’s current, twisted form.

  109. 109.

    Quarks

    @TooManyJens: YES.

    I’ve seen this happen in Florida — local news showing people still in line to vote WHILE they are calling various races — some fairly close, too. And of course in 2000 a couple networks called Florida while polls were still open in the Panhandle.

  110. 110.

    Spaghetti Lee

    This might not be the case anymore, but at one point the Senate was tied 16-16 because one Republican retired. I don’t know if that seat is up for grabs tonight, but I don’t think any incumbent Dem senators are losing, so what does that mean for Walker?

  111. 111.

    Donald G

    It’s ridiculous to call this race this early, and it’s even more ridiculous for certain blogs (like TPM) to jump on the bandwagon to be one of the cool kids.

    Now the calls may be correct and Walker may end up winning this thing, but haven’t our media overlords learned our lesson after having declared Romney the winner of certain Republican primaries, that we later learned, after the votes were actually counted, that Santorum won.

    When the polling is as close as it was and with the increased voter turnout, caution in making these vote projections should be the watchword.

  113. 113.

    tam1MI

    This had better be a huge wake-up call to the national Democratic party that they need to get their ass in gear when it comes to November. I have a feeling that Dems in Wisconsin will remember how Obama left them to twist in the wind when voting time next rolls around.

  114. 114.

    Only the Facts

    Democrats reliving Florida 2000 in their heads on my God this is more than I could have asked for out of this nights This is soooooo SWEET!

  115. 115.

    Keith G

    Hopefully the Obama team has been wise enough to have gamed out a way to influence the news cycle and disrupt the WI story line.

    In this election year, we know the good guys are going to be out spent, so we better not be out thought and out fought. If we are, 10 point leads in swing state polls in June will mean little in October.

  116. 116.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Question: Does anyone remember a race where the guy who was projected to lose after the networks called it come back to win? I’m just wondering if there’s precedent for that.

    Milwaukee and Dane are still not in at all, at least by TPM’s map. What’s going on there?

  118. 118.

    Hill Dweller

    @tam1MI: OFA has been in Wisconsin for weeks helping Barrett GOTV. Obama didn’t go there personally because they probably knew it was a fool’s errand.

    Judging from the exit polls, which show Obama crushing Willard, a lot of Obama voters just didn’t like the recall, and used said vote to protest, not necessarily support Walker.

  119. 119.

    TooManyJens

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Question: Does anyone remember a race where the guy who was projected to lose after the networks called it come back to win? I’m just wondering if there’s precedent for that.

    Not offhand, unless of course you count Al Gore. And if he did, the shrieks of “ELECTION FRAUD!” would be heard from space.

  121. 121.

    Chris

    @trollhattan:

    Eh, Eisenhower wasn’t all bad. Better in some respects.

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    My problem is I don’t want to be the guy who talks about conspiracies and vote suppression every time my guy loses-you just can’t do that every time.

    Given the slew of states passing harsh laws specifically targeting Democratic demographics, not to mention guys like that asshole in Florida outright trying to purge voters, I’d say they realize that they’re going to have to rely on vote suppression with increasing regularity if they want to stay in power.

  122. 122.

    Stuck in the Funhouse

    @Ben Franklin:

    With what result? This is a linchpin issue in a crucial Blue State. Ever hear of dominoes?

    Did you see the folks who told you Obama is up by 10 in WI? And the lynchpin issue, that has as much to do with policy, is whether people approve of recall elections and overturning regular election outcomes, for reasons of policy differences, no matter how odious they are.

    But you and others on the left can clutch the pearls and repeat for verification, right wing talking points trying to nationalize a complicated individual state’s internal politics. That will help.

  123. 123.

    Another Halocene Human

    @tam1MI:

    I have a feeling that Dems in Wisconsin will remember how Obama left them to twist in the wind when voting time next rolls around.

    Really? Or was it Barrett who should have taken a page from Obama’s community organizing ways and not run against labor in the primary, ensuring that labor would be a house divided in the general recall election? What a numb-nuts.

  124. 124.

    trollhattan

    @nodakfarmboy:

    I’ll certainly grant Eisenhower was not cut from the cloth of the current crop, and would certainly not have had anything to do with them (and vice versa). I’d sure have liked the military-industrial complex speech to have been made a lot sooner than his departure from office.

  125. 125.

    tam1MI

    @Hill Dweller:

    OFA has been in Wisconsin for weeks helping Barrett GOTV

    As has been widely reported, OFA in Wisconsin did this in defiance of what the national office was telling them.

    Wisconsin Dems – yet one more group thrown under Obama’s big bus.

  127. 127.

    Ben Franklin

    @Stuck in the Funhouse:

    Did you see the folks who told you Obama is up by 10 in WI?

    I am fucking tired of this pragmatism

    I keep waiting for the bell to ring and watch the boxing match.

    Shadow boxing is bullshit.

  128. 128.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    that Black Abe Lincoln is currently beating Romney by 10 points in TPM’s poll average.

    :Last I checked, he’s leading Romney by about two and a half. Is this with some of the polls filtered out?

  129. 129.

    chopper

    just goes to show if you outspend the other guy 10-to-1 you’re gonna win by a few points.

    i guess shitty mitty is gonna have to drop a few billion by november, isn’t he?

  131. 131.

    ChrisNYC

    With 57% reporting it’s 57/42 with record turnout. Bullshit if the DNC or Pres Obama could have made up the difference.

  132. 132.

    middlewest

    I came here just to see how Obama was responsible for all this, wasn’t disappointed.

  133. 133.

    ruemara

    @tam1MI: How is the DNC responsible for the idiocy of voters who turn out to vote FOR the same policies that are ruining their lives? Give it a rest.

  135. 135.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @Spaghetti Lee: I obviously have to point out Truman. But, looking at the map, I don’t see Barrette making up the difference. Did CNN really need a horse race with its 50-50 exit poll?

  139. 139.

    Joey Giraud

    I wonder what it will feel like on the day when the phrase “conspiracy nut” loses it’s soporific power, as Americans quietly realize that their elections have been fixed for decades, that those funny machines and the strange polls and the curious last minute events weren’t all just coincidences.

    Not that anyone will admit to not knowing it all along….

  140. 140.

    lacp

    Christ, I hope Walker loses, if for no other reason than that would stifle the endless lecturing and finger-wagging on “lessons learned.” The only “lesson” if Walker wins, whether by a nose or a landslide, is that you’ve got a pretty good shot of beating an opponent if you outspend him/her by a gazillion dollars. So, to that extent, the troll is right. Why he/she/it thinks that is a good thing is a puzzle, though.

  141. 141.

    Another Halocene Human

    @ChrisNYC: I don’t get how the polling is so off, unless the method is just flawed, or there are multiple Waukesha’s out there, or some under-the-radar group did GOTV, kind of how NC’s hate amendment passed because of heavy church efforts.

    Are provisional and absentee ballots being counted?

  142. 142.

    David Koch

    ya know, PPP’s polling had Walker with a 51-47 approval rating. That’s not great, but it’s not crummy, either. History and data show you’re just not gonna unseat an incumbent of either party who has 50-50 ratings. They need to be underwater and by a significant amount before voters move to kick an incumbent out. You can’t fight history.

  143. 143.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Joey Giraud: When they phased out the old machines with the giant crank they admitted that those machines were absolutely prone to errors… metal parts would stick recording hundreds of garbage votes (I think they printed your vote on an internal roll). Oops, didn’t want you to lose confidence in your elections and all that.

    I like the scantrons because you have a real paper ballot that can be inspected later in a recall situation. However, some places will only allow recall by machine. Teh fuhhh?

    Diebold is some shit. Never could understand that one when their ATMs were infamous in geekland for BSODing.

  145. 145.

    ChrisNYC

    @Another Halocene Human: I don’t think absentees get counted until Friday, think I read that today. But the number I saw for absentees was 200K. 2008 turnout in WI was 3 million votes, that’s the highwater mark. So even if turnout was that high AND Barrett got all the absentees (impossible), he’d still be 100K behind Walker at the current numbers.

    I don’t know what happened. Polling was off. Bad candidate. WI voters sick of the drama. A guv they know. Etc etc.

  146. 146.

    Mister Papercut

    @Another Halocene Human:

    I don’t get how the polling is so off, unless the method is just flawed, or there are multiple Waukesha’s out there, or some under-the-radar group did GOTV

    Anyone remember the Doctor Who two-parter with the seemingly innocuous ghosts that appeared and would walk harmlessly among the human population, but then they’re given a signal and it turns out they’re actually Cybermen?

    Don’t know why I just thought of that.

  147. 147.

    Joey Giraud

    @Another Halocene Human:

    Confidence is ephemeral. I just see such evidence and anomalies as are reported and forgotten. You know, vote tampering is as old as democracy, and America isn’t all that exceptional.

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