There is a saying about how to tell the difference between accident, coincidence and enemy action. It goes something like:
- Once is happenstance.
- Twice is coincidence.
- Three times is enemy action.
Looks like the problem of voting machines switching attempted votes for a Republican candidate to the corresponding Democratic candidate has reached stage two. At least. Here is the most recent one:
'Calibration issue' pops up on Maryland voting machines
This incident was reported a few day earlier from Illinois' Cook County:
Cook County ballot box tries to cast GOP votes for Democrats
Calibration errors happen and, given the nature of government, it is unremarkable that they are not caught until a system goes into service. However, if such errors were really only errors they would be expected to favor each party's candidates in about equal numbers. That is not case here: In both of the recent reports the calibration errors have always favored the Democratic candidate.
