corrente

A couple of weeks back we ran an interesting paper on the subject of how elections can be disrupted without resort to electronic voting machines. On that list was this item:

14. Cause riots or disturbances during voting hours in targeted districts...Could be perpetrated by military, paramilitary (police) or goon squads.

So we were in a suspicious frame of mind to read this in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

After losing Tuesday's runoff by four votes, Gina Carr has thought about what she should have done differently.

She's not sure, but she believes the result was affected by something no one could have anticipated — a gunbattle near a key precinct.

Frank Sheridan was killed about 3 p.m. when Deputy Patrick Neal returned fire after being shot in the face. Dozens of emergency vehicles rushed to the Towne Lake area neighborhood in Woodstock. Television news helicopters hovered overhead. The road leading to Woodstock High School — site of a polling precinct — was briefly blocked while Neal was transported to a waiting medical helicopter.

The chaos kept people away from the area, Carr said.

"There is no doubt," said Carr, "that voting at that precinct was very disrupted."

Now there is no indication that this particular shooting was in any way intentionally perpetrated with the intent of affecting a vote. A recount is planned but a recount can't pick up votes that weren't cast because of a "disruption" like this. To your election day supplies, consider adding Kevlar.