Significant divergences have been reported between the election results and exit polls. The latter are traditionally very accurate, often to within 1 percent or so. Alastair Thompson reports a provisional study of this.
(Complete US Exit Poll Data Confirms Net Suspicions ..., Scoop [New Zealand], 17 Nov. 2004)
Additionally, in key states (Ohio, Florida ...), dodgy results in some counties/precincts, mainly those with optical scanning of paper votes. In Cuyahoga county, Ohio (where, "According to county regulations, voters must cast their ballot in the precinct in which they are registered"), in a number of precincts
turnout was well over 100% of registered voters ... In 30 precincts, more ballots were cast than voters were registered in the [entire] county ... 100,000 more people voted than are registered to vote — this out of a total of 251,946 registrations. ... a 39% over-vote. ... One precinct with 558 registered voters cast nearly 9,000 ballots.Also (related?) claims that racial/Democrat voter areas were selectively short of voting machines -- long queues -- some electors deterred.(Colin Shea, "I Smell A Rat", The Sierra Times, Freezer Box, reproduced on www.zogby.com, 15 Nov. 2004)
Further:-
93,000 Extra votes In Cuyahoga County — Outrage In Ohio
Teed Rockwell, Rense.com, 12 Nov. 2004
'You may have seen the Associated Press story about the precinct in Cuyahoga county that had less than 1,000 voters, and gave Bush almost 4,000 extra votes.
'But that turns out to be only the tip of a very ugly iceberg. The evidence discovered by some remarkably careful sleuthing would convince any reasonable court to invalidate the entire Ohio election.
'In last Tuesday's election, 29 precincts in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, reported votes cast IN EXCESS of the number of registered voters — at least 93,136 extra votes total. And the numbers are right there on the official Cuyahoga County Board of Elections website: ...'
Precinct-by-precinct details follow, and a link to the Cuyahoga County election board website is given:
http://boe.cuyahogacounty.us/BOE/results/currentresults1.htm#top
Researchers: Florida Vote Fishy
Kim Zetter, Wired News, 18 Nov. 2004
'Electronic voting machines in Florida may have awarded George W. Bush up to 260,000 more votes than he should have received, according to statistical analysis conducted by University of California, Berkeley graduate students and a professor, who released a study on Thursday. ...
'Their aim in releasing the report, the researchers said, was not to attack the results on the 2004 election in Florida, where Bush won by 350,000 votes, but to prompt election officials and the public to examine the e-voting systems and address the fact that there is no way to conduct a meaningful recount on the paperless machines. ...'
Juan Gonzalez, "Ohio tally fit for Ukraine [another fiddled election]", New York Daily News, 30 November 04. More on suspicious results in Cuyahoga County (which contains Cleveland).
"2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities", Wikipedia
It is interesting to compare the "dodgyness" of the 2004 US election, with (possibly more modest efforts in) the marginal British parliamentary election of 1992. Exit polls, usually very accurate (often to within 1 percent), predicted a win for the opposition Labour Party. The election itself was not marginal to 1 percent or so. But incumbent Conservative PM John Major announced, before the voting was over, that he was "stone cold certain" of the outcome ...Speculation: votes in the marginal constituencies were topped up with a few hundred bogus votes — the safest and easiest way to fake the election. (Britain does not have any type of proportional representation, but a first-past-the-post method for each constituency.)