William Kristol, whom I have hated for years [a hatred he inherited from his father and mother] made the following very interesting observation on an MSNBC talk show regarding the Alabama election. As anyone knows who was watching the vote tallies, there were more write-in votes than Doug Jones' margin of victory -- somewhat more than 20,000 in all. But there were no other races on the ballot. That means that more than twenty thousand people went to the trouble of going to the polls simply in order not to vote for either Moore or Jones Pretty clearly these were Republicans. So they were so deeply opposed to Moore that, while unable to vote for a Democrat, they felt compelled to go out and not vote for Moore rather than just staying home.
Remarkable.
I think that is the likely explanation; and I think it is safe to assume that the sexual allegations also depressed Republican turnout.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand an Alabama Supreme Court judge, by obtaining a "stay" of ballot protection, effectively killing it, permitted Alabama counties to destroy ballot images, ie, destroy any record of the true vote. Moreover, there were reports of machine manipulation and fractional voting. I wouldn't be surprise if Jones' margin was a few percentages higher, given the shenanigans Alabama is known for.
In the same vein, it's reported that in the general election of 2016, in fourteen (of 34 states holding both) there were more votes cast for Senator than for President. I.e. citizens were turning out to vote, but left the top line blank rather than vote for either Trump or Clinton. It was reported (anywhere that I could find) how many more wrote in votes for POTUS (knowing their votes were throw-aways, but unwilling to sit home)
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