August 11, 2010 12:54 AM UTC

Superstitious voters: How many are there?

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• by: ThillyWabbit

In the past three days I’ve talked to several people who claim they always vote for the guy they want to lose under the theory that whoever they vote for always seems to lose.

It’s as if they believe there’s some sort of karmic element to elections where if they vote for Candidate A, it will cause two other people to vote for Candidate B.

So here’s my question: How many of these crackpots are there? Have there ever been any studies done on the number of voters who believe the ballot box is actually more like a slot machine and that their karma is going to affect the outcome?

Yesterday I thought it was just a lefty airy-fairy new age thing, but today I overheard two righties in line at the 7-11 discussing the same thing. They both voted for Jane Norton because they want Ken Buck to win.

I tend to believe in things like math. You know, where 51 people vote for Candidate A and 49 people vote for Candidate B, that means that Candidate A wins by 1 point.

But not my neighbor, whose ballot for Romanoff I am about to go deliver because he wants Bennet to win.

If Andrew wins by 1 vote, he and his karma can thank me later.

UPDATE: Tonight’s results will only be proof beyond a reasonable doubt. He voted for Romanoff and it caused Bennet to win. Ain’t superstition grand?

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