An election day prediction

Want to know who will come out on top today? No, it’s not the Democrats. Must be the Republicans, you say? Nope. It’s the lawyers. That’s right, the lawyers. Voting is only a few hours old and the court orders are already flying. My prediction for this election day is that, with one-third of the country ...

Want to know who will come out on top today? No, it's not the Democrats. Must be the Republicans, you say? Nope. It's the lawyers. That's right, the lawyers. Voting is only a few hours old and the court orders are already flying.

Want to know who will come out on top today? No, it’s not the Democrats. Must be the Republicans, you say? Nope. It’s the lawyers. That’s right, the lawyers. Voting is only a few hours old and the court orders are already flying.

My prediction for this election day is that, with one-third of the country voting on new electronic machines, we will see a record amount of legal action contesting the results.

I hope I’m wrong — very wrong. I hope that by midnight tonight, we know more or less who has won and lost. But after going to the polls in my neighborhood this morning, I’m not betting on it. When I arrived at my polling place in northern Virginia this morning around 7:45 a.m., I was greeted by — you guessed it — trouble with the electronic voting machines. The election officials were apologizing profusely because only four of five electronic voting machines were working. This was causing lines and delays. No one knew how to fix the fifth machine. I waited nearly an hour to vote, in one of the most hotly contested states in the country. It was sure to get worse as the day wore on, an election official quietly confided to me.

I don’t mind waiting an hour to cast my vote. That’s a small price to pay for democracy. But with more serious problems already being reported in Ohio, Indiana, and Florida, I’m guessing the lawyers will have a field day with this election. Let’s hope I’m wrong. We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, check out this excellent primer on why this election could be the most contested in history.

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