Reply #3: You got it!

[tinfoil_beret]

Actually, they could have split the third-party votes by the same proportions and just added the absentees. (The federal absentee ballots from prior elections in Florida tended to lean Republican.

It seems very peculiar that the Democratic percentage stayed virtually the same for seven of the twelve counties with the highest numbers of registered voters. I've read that the Democrats did much better registering new voters in Southern Florida. Also, the Republican gains matching so closely to the third-party losses in these counties seems highly improbable! The odds of all of these variables converging to give the incumbent almost exactly a 5% victory must be infinitesimally small!

I would think that if someone wanted to manipulate it they would choose a number small enough not to raise any red flags and large enough to discourage a recount. Picking such a round number of 5% seems like a poor choice for a margin though, when they could have let a computer pick a random number between five and six percent. That number is just too close to any even 5%.

You can't PROVE it with or without a recount, because Florida election policies make accurate recounts impossible. Considering the monkey business allegedly uncovered recently by BBV regarding the allegedly falsified poll tapes and considering the fact that the DRE vapor-vote machines don't have original ballots for counting, a recount might be quite futile.

What can we do about it? I don't know. I doubt these numbers would represent overwhelming evidence, though I consider it prima facie. I just don't know.