For those who now think Nate Silver is god, here’s a question: Can Nate Silver make a prediction so accurate that Nate Silver himself doesn’t believe it? Yes, he can–and he did. Silver famously predicted the results of Election 2012 correctly in every state. Yet while his per-state predictions added up to the 332 electoral […]
Tim Lee Reporting on NJ Email-Assisted Voting
November 6, 2012 by
Earlier this week, Professor Andrew Appel posted that “NJ Lt. Governor invites voters to submit invalid ballots“. Andrew has been offering updates at the bottom of his post since then. Professor Ed Felten also summarized the state of “New Jersey Voting in the Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy,” concluding that, “I would strongly oppose any long-term […]
Get Out the Vote, Cee-Lo Style?
November 6, 2012 by
This semester, Ed Felten and I are teaching a Freshman Seminar called “Facebook: The Social Impact of Social Networks.” This week, the class is discussing a recent article published in the journal Nature, entitled “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization“. The study reveals that if Facebook shows you a list of your […]
Romance & "Reality" in the 2012 Presidential Campaign
November 5, 2012 by
Romance and “reality” are in conflict as the 2012 Presidential campaign approaches its election day apex. While the 2012 Presidential campaign lacks the historical resonance of the 2008 campaign, the 2012 campaign is notable, in part, for the attention many are giving to the quantitative analysis of polling data, most famously prepared by Nate Silver. […]
Grading the absentee-in-person experience in Virginia
November 5, 2012 by
[Each year, I write a “my day as a pollworker” report. This year, I’m not a pollworker, or election officer in Virginia parlance, for a variety of reasons, so I decided to write about my voting experience.] I just got back from “in-person absentee voting”. This is similar to but not the same as early […]
