Cambridge Election 'Oopsie': Just 2,000 Extra Ballots
The Independent reports Cambridge, Massachusetts might recount an election after wrongly including 2,000+ test ballots. City officials called it a 'ballot-processing error.' Just 2,000 phantom votes, enough to flip an education council seat. Because when voting systems 'malfunction,' it's always quaint, never systemic. One might recall Florida 2000, or Ohio 2004, where 'irregularities' seemed to
break just one way, always with the convenient excuse of antiquated tech or human oversight. We are repeatedly told to trust the system, even when the system repeatedly demonstrates its trustworthiness is, shall we say, conditional. Perhaps we should just applaud Cambridge's transparency in admitting their unique brand of electoral 'fuzzy math.' It certainly raises questions about how many such
'errors' go unnoticed, especially in contests where the stakes are higher than a school board. (Do you think General Dynamics might accidentally donate manufacturing data to a candidate? No, that would be too obvious.) It's comforting to know that in the digital age, our voting integrity still occasionally relies on someone remembering to delete the practice round.