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Description
A mistake
A short story

"Senator Carlson, " the aide announced himself without preamble and added, "The virus is uploaded. The programmers are starting to worry about the last payment. "

"Shhhhh, The results are about to be counted." The Senator stood in the center of the pricey hotel room, staring intently at a television screen. After a lot of expensive and exhausting campaigning the results from the first states were about to be announced.

The aide quietly walked over and glanced at the screen. "They assure us it will work as planned."

Carlson barely nodded, then asked, "They didn't wait too late did they?"

"They said from the first vote to be tallied," the aide replied. "Not that they are trustworthy. 'Bought as far as you can throw them' Madalyn says." He quoted the Senator's wife.

"Hmmh." he said, but otherwise stared at the screen.

Polls had clearly shown a close race, with senator Carlson slightly in the lead. But Carson's heritage meant he could afford to put a lot of money into this endeavor, as well as to have his own polls conducted. It didn't look good. By including underrepresented groups in the poll, It was clear he would lose by a margin of 15 percent of the votes.

That is why he found a group of illegal programmers to rig the poll. As the polls were fed into the computer, the votes would automatically be swapped, thus the votes would appear natural and it would be hard to see that they had been tampered with. He had made a conscious effort to campaign in his opponents home ground, with significant response, as well as a lot of focus on various ethnic groups groups. Aside from that, the program was to not swap a few key regions, but the results should look something like the early official polls that had been done.

He was banking a lot on the accuracy of his own polls. Not to mention, that to be caught in a scandal over the polling computers would be an annoyance that would haunt his political career for the rest of his life. Not to mention that he might end up in jail if they could ever prove it.

Mentally, he ran over all the precautions that had been used in case anyone began investigating. The false email accounts, and rerouted payments, the secretary he had bribed... It was a fairly long list, but he felt he had covered his tracks well.

His mind snapped to attention as the first state was reported: his opponent was ahead by about 12 percent of the votes. "Did they not install the program?" He hissed at his aide. "The polls could have been off." he replied, a hint of nervousness in his voice. They both had expected a little of that, but to have it show up on the first state was disconcerting.

The reports rolled in on the next few states, and the results were the same. 2, 8, 11, 11, and 19 percent of the votes went to Carson's opponents. "Call them," Carlton said, and the aide hastily shuffled off to call the hackers about their illegal program."

While he was gone, Carlton won two states, and then a couple of others, but the aide was gone a long time.

A very long time. He did finally return as the votes for the last state rolled in, 14 percent to his opponent.

The aide was nervous and started by saying, "At least no one is seriously questioning a voting scandal yet." After a moment thought, he reported what he had to say. "The program was definitely in place, and the votes were switched according to plan. I got one of the programmers to hack into one of the computers and check it..." Carlton started at the thought of a new security risk, but the aide assured him, " Perfectly safe, he assured me, but it wasn't the program. It was working perfectly. It must have been the votes. Our polls were off." With a flat voice, the aide added, "We won."

Description
A mistake
A short story

"Senator Carlson, " the aide announced himself without preamble and added, "The virus is uploaded. The programmers are starting to worry about the last payment. "

"Shhhhh, The results are about to be counted." The Senator stood in the center of the pricey hotel room, staring intently at a television screen. After a lot of expensive and exhausting campaigning the results from the first states were about to be announced.

The aide quietly walked over and glanced at the screen. "They assure us it will work as planned."

Carlson barely nodded, then asked, "They didn't wait too late did they?"

"They said from the first vote to be tallied," the aide replied. "Not that they are trustworthy. 'Bought as far as you can throw them' Madalyn says." He quoted the Senator's wife.

"Hmmh." he said, but otherwise stared at the screen.

Polls had clearly shown a close race, with senator Carlson slightly in the lead. But Carson's heritage meant he could afford to put a lot of money into this endeavor, as well as to have his own polls conducted. It didn't look good. By including underrepresented groups in the poll, It was clear he would lose by a margin of 15 percent of the votes.

That is why he found a group of illegal programmers to rig the poll. As the polls were fed into the computer, the votes would automatically be swapped, thus the votes would appear natural and it would be hard to see that they had been tampered with. He had made a conscious effort to campaign in his opponents home ground, with significant response, as well as a lot of focus on various ethnic groups groups. Aside from that, the program was to not swap a few key regions, but the results should look something like the early official polls that had been done.

He was banking a lot on the accuracy of his own polls. Not to mention, that to be caught in a scandal over the polling computers would be an annoyance that would haunt his political career for the rest of his life. Not to mention that he might end up in jail if they could ever prove it.

Mentally, he ran over all the precautions that had been used in case anyone began investigating. The false email accounts, and rerouted payments, the secretary he had bribed... It was a fairly long list, but he felt he had covered his tracks well.

His mind snapped to attention as the first state was reported: his opponent was ahead by about 12 percent of the votes. "Did they not install the program?" He hissed at his aide. "The polls could have been off." he replied, a hint of nervousness in his voice. They both had expected a little of that, but to have it show up on the first state was disconcerting.

The reports rolled in on the next few states, and the results were the same. 2, 8, 11, 11, and 19 percent of the votes went to Carson's opponents. "Call them," Carlton said, and the aide hastily shuffled off to call the hackers about their illegal program."

While he was gone, Carlton won two states, and then a couple of others, but the aide was gone a long time.

A very long time. He did finally return as the votes for the last state rolled in, 14 percent to his opponent.

The aide was nervous and started by saying, "At least no one is seriously questioning a voting scandal yet." After a moment thought, he reported what he had to say. "The program was definitely in place, and the votes were switched according to plan. I got one of the programmers to hack into one of the computers and check it..." Carlton started at the thought of a new security risk, but the aide assured him, " Perfectly safe, he assured me, but it wasn't the program. It was working perfectly. It must have been the votes. Our polls were off." With a flat voice, the aide added, "We won."