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| Joined: | Mon Nov 21st, 2005 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 6399 |
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There are many ways to rig an election and ensure that one candidate is favored over another. For example, it’s possible to manipulate — illegally — machines to favor a candidate, use voter caging tactics to deny ordinary citizens their voting rights, gerrymandering and redistricting plans split the votes of already disenfranchised groups. Finally, as in California, partisan organizations or parties might attempt to destroy the voting (electoral) system in order to “steal an election”.
One of the more subtle and destructive forms of “rigging” an election occurs in the arena of public opinion. It’s rarely studied or denounced because it isn’t a form of manipulation that can be easily spotted or stopped. Planting seeds of doubt or “inevitability” are a political strategist’s best friend.