Could confusing ballots swing the presidential election in NC?
North Carolina is now one of the tightest states in the 2008 presidential election. Pollster.com shows Barack Obama with only a slight 2.2% edge over John McCain. Nate Silver’s popular 538.com shows it even closer: By his analysis, Obama’s lead is merely .4% — making NC the tightest state in the country. With North Carolina’s critical 15 Electoral College votes likely to be decided by a razor-thin margin, there is growing concern the race could be affected by the state’s use of confusing ballots that under-count tens of thousands of presidential votes each year. Some background: North Carolina is one of only two states in the country where straight-ticket voting does not count a vote for president. For example, if someone marks the box to vote straight-ticket Republican — but doesn’t also tick off a vote for John McCain at the top of the ballot — McCain won’t get a vote. The result is that every presidential election, North Carolina has an unusually high number of “undervotes” — ba
