3. Vote suppression. This can have a major effect, as we're talking about thousands to tens of thousands of votes. "Purges" are just one way of doing this — making sure the "wrong" districts have voting machine problems, deliberately underprinting ballots, etc, are others.4. Vote counting fraud. Here is where you have the real game-changers. Especially with computer-based systems (impossible to audit), you can push things as far as you think you can get away with. Most places allow recounts only if the vote margin is less than a certain percent (Generally 0.5% - 1.5%, from what I've seen). Steal more than that, no recount.Republicans make a great fuss about #1, while claiming (without evidence) that #2 is running wild. Democrats complain about #3 and #4, which can easily shift an election. They're about as equivalent as jaywalking and armed robbery.
I'd like to add to that with the rather tricky business of redrawing district lines (when obviously used for partisan advantage, it's called gerrymandering). A dem example here. A GOP example here. And one more or less in the middle, here. Outside of the box view here. I'm going to wager, though, that for a while on from now, people are going to be paying more attention to all these tactics. 2008 is proving to bemonumental in more ways than we can imagine. How lucky we are to be living at such a nexus in history.
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