11/2/08: Pennsylvania: The Keystone State IS the key to this election!

In the last week, the McCain campaign has spent enormous time, money and effort in Pennsylvania, the Keystone State, even more than in other battleground states where he was much more competitive such as Florida, Ohio or North Carolina. Why?

1. Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes are the ONLY realistic path left to McCain, given that early voting indicators are that McCain will lose many states that Bush won in 2004, including Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada & Iowa.

2. The McCain campaign believes that there is a deep thread of bigotry running through the rural areas - they're counting on the typical "Bradley Effect" (in which most or all undecided voters "break" to the white candidate, even though they may have polled otherwise). They think that Hillary Clinton's win over Obama in the primaries here gives this credibility. Hence also the Rev Wright ads that are airing here in spite of McCain's "promise" not to do so.

3. Pennsylvania uses primarily electronic machines for voting, which are prone to rigging as has been demonstrated in previous elections. Here's more info on the machines used in each state. And an analysis sent to me explaining how this could be exploited, published earlier.

4. Pennsylvania has no early voting. So unlike in many other states, votes couldn't be locked in. Plus it makes voting much more susceptible to devious rigging techniques, including broken or malfunctioning machines, last-minute voter "checks", mysteriously "slow" voting, especially in crowded urban areas (which are overwhelmingly Democratic), resulting in polls closing before thousands of voters have exercised their fundamental right.

On Oct 31st, this startling analysis published on HuffPost showed how the election could still be stolen in PA in spite of the near-double-digits leads for Obama:
So, has all this helped McCain close the gap in the Keystone State?
Not according to the polls. And here's an analysis at fivethirtyeight.com that says the same thing.
But as we know well by now, in the final tally, only the one on Nov 4 counts - all others mean zilch.

So here's some useful advice for Tuesday from the author Erica Jong:
To summarize:
Get a paper ballot if at all possible. If not, make double sure that the electronic machine shows your choice BEFORE you hit submit. Take your cellphone/camera with you and take pictures: of your ballot (or screen), of the voting clerk and supervisor and of the scene in and out of the polling station.
IF YOU PRESS OBAMA AND MCCAIN LIGHTS UP, TAKE A PICTURE. IF YOU COMPLAIN TO A SUPERVISOR AND SHE OR HE SAYS YOU JUST DIDN'T PRESS HARD ENOUGH, DON'T DO IT AGAIN AND GIVE MCPALIN A SECOND VOTE. JUST GET ALL THE INFO, THE PHOTO, THE NAME AND ADDRESS AND EMAIL AND TELEPHONE # OF THE VOTING CLERK.
Keep all records!!! BE PREPARED!!!