Thursday, August 10, 2006
Electoral mathemagic
Imaginary numbers. PAN, says that only a couple of votes have changed from the tens of thousands counted. Jesus Ortega of the PRD says that in fact the recount has shown significant shifts.
The Heisenberg Uncertainty hazeThe "citizen net" (PRD) spokesman Ricardo Monreal Ávila alleged that the results of the recount prove that fraud was committed not only on Election Eve but in the (ca. 3%) illegal recount performed by the election institute (IFE) July 10-14.
The language used by Monreal to describe the condition of the documents is colorful enough that it's difficult to translate. In 15 districts, the IFE broke the locks and seals where the electoral documents were kept, and thumbed through the documentation. In District 4 of Torreon, the packets were "disemboweled." In the capital, 5% of the packets were opened. This exceeded what the judge allowed, namely the opening of a single packet. In District 5, the judge said he had not authorized the opening of any packets.
Real numbersAccording to Marti Batras Guadarrama, the basic problem is that in 30,000 precincts there are 898,000 surplus votes, while in 42,000 precincts, there are 722,000 fewer votes than voters. This uncertainty is six times Calderon's supposed margin of victory. La Jornada adds some details:
* In Jalisco, about 1000 votes were subtracted from Calderon.
* In the capital (DF), tampering with the electoral packets and a mismatch of ballots to votes
* In DF district 12, the recount was done under the guns of the military
* In district 24, there were remains of seals from multiple entries
* Again in district 24, 20 out of 42 electoral packets had been opened
* In district DF 10, there were 156 sign-ins but 159 votes.
* District 10 had 136 unused ballots but reported 137 to the authorities
* In district 8, 17 of 18 packets had been opened and there were other irregularities
* Again in district 8, there were discrepancies of up to 11 votes per precinct in Calderon's favor
* In district 5, the representatives of the PRD were not allowed entry
* Precinct 995-1 (Veracruz) produced 75 more votes for Obrador
* Precinct 690-1 (Veracruz) produced 45 more votes for Obrador
* Precinct 677 (Guadalajara) produced 80 more votes for Obrador
* Precinct 136 (Tepatitlán) had 158 perfectly duplicate ballots
* In Aguascalientes, Baja California, Coahuila, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, Chihuahua, Nuevo León y Veracruz, all the ballots had been openedm and precincts were found with no ballots.
* In Michoacan, the PRD got 200 more votes from 80 precincts
(There are many more examples)
Funny how all the errors are in Calderon's favor.
More blogs about politics.
