I don't know if the election is outright rigged. I'm sure plenty of folks out there are trying to bend the rules to the extent they can get away with it, because so many people see it as some sort of life or death situation, and get their own personal validation tied up in it. So they are willing to do anything that they can (probably) get away with to try to make it go their way. And of course there's another group of folks who may or may not have most of the above issues PLUS their jobs depend on which way it goes, so they may be doubly motivated to do the wrong thing.

OTOH, none of that may really matter relative to the barrage of propaganda that goes on. Why bother risking jail and a legal overthrow of a win when you can just spread rumors and misinformation or selectively report information? If you can get the votes by playing on the fears and prejudices of enough people, what's the point in risking losing it all over something outright illegal?

So, anyhoo, I don't know if I'm too cynical or not cynical enough. Clearly history teaches us that power attracts the corruptible like crack cocaine. But, you have to sort of wonder whether, like many other areas of our lives, the tools and techniques of corruption and power grabbing haven't also continued to 'improve' through extensive study and application? Why do something as crude as blow up a safe when you can just steal millions over the net and not risk getting caught?