Reply #66: And the underlying process in principle could shift as many votes

[AirAmFan]

away from Bush as from Kerry, if all polling places were equally overcrowded and chaotic.

But we know that it was in overwhelmingly pro-Kerry areas where overcrowding was most prevalent. Not only does overcrowding of the polls discourage voters, both those who actually experience long lines and those who simply hear about them or see them on TV. Overcrowding combined with the "caterpillar ballot" scrambles some of the ballots that, despite high barriers, voters manage to cast.

Where there is order and no overcrowding, few votes are miscounted, regardless of the configuration of multiple ballot orders. But at an overcrowded, chaotic location, the more popular of the two major candidates loses the most votes. And that was Kerry pretty consistently, at least in Cuyahoga, according to all reports I've heard