According to popular opinion, Barack Obama has already won the American Presidential Election. Varying in different US and international polls by between 5 and 13 percent of the votes. This morning in his home town of Chicago he cast his own vote.I just spoke with a friend who lives in the Obama-friendly state of Virginia - a swing state. She told me about the chaos that rose during the day, because so many people wanted to be absolutely sure to vote this time. There have been as yet unsustained reports that the Republicans are now so desperate about the outlook of this election that the computerized voting machines have been manipulated.
The American election works by a system where the voter gets a list with choices of either a Democrat or Republican Presidential candidate and a long list of either Democrats or Republicans for Senate. The voter then has to choose the number of Senators, according to the respective number of Senators from each state - and the Presidential candidate of choice - using a touch screen computer in a small voting booth. The unsustained reports from her home state of Virginia suggest that the computers may have been tampered with. Shouldn't the provided huge numbers of election officials, observers, and lawyers be able to detect any foul play? Paradoxically, if there is not too much drama about the outcome of the Presidential election itself - we can always enjoy a little drama about the voting technicalities.
Photo provided by: http://www.barackobama.com/photos/
Barack Obama votes: http://video.msn.com/?mkt=da-dk&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:e5bc58d3-8071-470c-98f9-0d17fb717c8c&showPlaylist=true&from=IV2_da-dk_nyheder&fg=gtlv2
BBC Various polls: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/7360265.stm
Danish poll with US map and clickable graphics: http://politiken.dk/udland/valgiusa/valgfakta/