I’ve been an election official in Northern Virginia and we sure do count them. All the numbers have to match before we can wrap it up for the day. How many came to vote, how many electronic, how many write in, etc., etc. We count and re-count, and certify about five copies with six signatures between Rs and Ds.
So how can boxes of ballots show up in somebody’s trunk after it’s all done? How can somebody call up a precinct asking what the vote tally is and the official in charge, mistakenly thinking it’s the democrat leader on the phone, asks “How many do you need?” How can some precincts have over 100% voter turnout, or how can there be dozens of voters who show up as over 120 years old (or whatever the statistic was - I saw the headline tonight and didn’t ping myself on it)?
Bettina Viviano has said that (according to top dems) the huge amounts of money for Obama’s campaign weren’t primarily for ads, but to pay off the election cheats. Do we not have enough people observing, are they kept from doing anything about cheating if they see it, or what’s going on?
Of course, if crooks operate the tabulation software they can switch the votes around all they want, as long as the total number of people who voted ends up the same.
I think we do it differently here in MA.
How dare you deny Clearcase his hopelessness and misery. How heartless can you be? ;-)
I'm an election judge in Minnesota and we do the exact same procedure here. It may take hours but it all must be reconciled before we leave. Then before the closing, the results are posted on the door for anyone to see.
I understand people question the counting process, I even did and that is why I decided to become one of the "counters".
I'm certainly not saying vote fraud doesn't exist, but counting of the ballots that are in the box at the end of the evening is a very deliberate and careful process in my experience.