Does anyone remember pregnant and hanging chads?
I remember us racing to use these electronic ballots. How everything comes full circle.
I remember those, but have to admit I'd never heard of a "chad" before that election.
Election fraud has been around since elections, some places like chicago practice it with impunity. My feeling is that more power is in the hands of big city machines now and you are seeing it in the rural/urban red/blue divide.
Someday candidates for senate or president will simply go see a law firm in the big city and get a number to pay for the office. What the people think won't matter as by then elections will have become more like celebrity sporting events with just as much meaning in the final outcome.