We are hearing a lot of discussion on national news about the Bradley Effect: the percentage of voters who state they support a black candidate, but in fact vote against that candidate at the polls. This number has been estimated to be as much as 6%.
The Rove Effect is the unknown percentage of voters: a) who will not vote due to misleading information about voting location, dates and times, or b) whose vote will be ‘lost’ or reassigned on electronic voting machines, or c) who will not be permitted to vote due to the purging of voter rolls based on incorrect criteria, inaccurate data, or intentional elimination of voter groups.
This total is referred to (by me) as the Rove Effect. It is just as insidious, and possibly more statistically significant than the Bradley Effect. Worse, this deprivation of voting rights has the perfect ready made cover up. If the elections don’t go as polls predict, then Rove’s manipulations can be blamed on the Bradley Effect!
The only cure is a landslide!
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