by David Greenberg

All day I've been hearing and reading stories of voter suppression, malfunctioning election machines, and other episodes that, if numerous enough, could tip election outcomes. Some are, to be sure, simply innocent glitches. Others, just as surely, are the work of rogue Republicans without orders from central command. In the case of the spreading of misinformation in black neighborhoods, it's hard not to conclude that some GOP operatives--perhaps local rather than national--are responsible. But in the absence of evidence who really knows? It's precisely this absence of evidence that troubles me. How many of these cases will actually be corrected? In how many cases will any significant effort be made to find and prosecute the perpetrators? Probably few. Moreover, even if authorities bring a handful of election-tampering charges after the fact, it's hard to imagine anyone insisting that any elections be conducted anew--or arguing that a voter who's been given the wrong polling place and then fails to vote should get to cast her vote a day or two later. In other words, it's exceedingly unlikely that any effort will be made actually to right the wrongs. And so whatever punishment is ultimately visited upon the malefactors, they will have gotten away with their dirty tricks. It's impossible to how widespread the dirty tricks are. I'm not an alarmist. So far, the reports aren't so plentiful that any outcomes seem likely to be altered. Chances are they won't be. Still, recall Palm Beach, 2000: the failure to provide a legal ballot to voters, the consequence that thousands of votes intended for Gore went to Pat Buchanan, and the courts' subsequent refusal to order a revote, combined to give Bush the election and to change the course of history.