Yes but not all of the complaints are about the 2012 presidential race. They also put in security to recognize when someone is using one of these Bots and can shut them down once a complaint is filed.

Most of them are allowed though.

It's highly unlikely anyone is signing up under 30 different names. That would require 30 different Emails, as well as 30 different IP Addresses. If the intrade site doesn't allow Proxies then it would be impossible for even a Spam bot to register more than one name.

There may be some suspicious activity, but that depends on whether or not a person is biased one way or another. For instance, would you still see this " Suspicious Activity" If the numbers were flipped in Romney's Favor?...

That's why Not many People I know use it as a trusted source. I use it as a decent indicator as to which direction a race is going, but I don't trust it as being 100% correct. I've seen it come out wrong before, although it's mostly close with the numbers it has been known to be off.

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This sort of thing is done. There's a name for the dummy accounts I can't remember. Look up the hacking exploits of the group that works with Progressive operative Neil Rauhauser. He brags about it, and there's quotes of him telling how it's done. I believe they hide IPs through some sort of VPN (virtual private network). As I recall when I read about this sort of thing one time there are VPNs which are not vulnerable to proxy tracking software. If that's not the case tell me how they can hack Skype, and launch those "Swatting" attacks they're famous for without getting prosecuted.

Given that Intrade deals with actual money in their stock trades, botting in this case can be used to game the system and make a few ill-gotten dollars. Club Bing before it was shut down was notoriously popular for botters using constantly updated botting programs in order to win rooms full of free prizes, which in turn would be sold for cash.

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"Bush tortured people, Obama just kills them."
---Noam Chomsky

why I am against computer voting.

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Me too, that idea is incredibly likely to backfire in such a massive way. I really hope we don't ever turn elections into someone's Facebook poll.

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"Bush tortured people, Obama just kills them."
---Noam Chomsky

We call them " Sock Puppet" accounts. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, just that it's unlikely a conspiracy to fix an election. Hackers are serious scary.. and virtually impossible to stop. in fact it's easier to stop a Bot than it is a Hacker with an Agenda.....

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That's it. That's what Rauhauser calls them. Don't you hate that when it's on the tip of you tongue, and won't come to you? Thanks. I'm glad one of us had the time to look it up. Sorry about the time it took you. I was watching you on "who's online".

It does happen. Not to fix elections, but to create false online opinion, yeah. I gave you the search term Rauhauser. You should have been able to find it from there. Do you want some help? Maybe if I have time later in the evening I can find the links for you.

I only remembered it because we had a recent problem with sock puppet accounts at one of the web sites I manage. It's a celebrity Fan site, and they were running a poll to choose the number one celebrity of the year. W had one guy create 45 sock puppet accounts and he voted for his favorite.. Ended up winning the comp.. which didn't have a prize...

After that we installed a couple of Mods to block Proxies, and then we adjusted the software to block spam bots. It's a nightmare for little sites like this to keep up with so I can only imagine the headaches at a place like Intrade...

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And that is very bad news for President Obama, since the incumbent traditionally gets very little of the Undecided vote.

Not that presidential elections are determined by the popular vote. They are not, of course.

But even when there is a discrepancy between the winner of the popular vote and the winner of the electoral vote (as, for instance, in 2000), there is seldom much of a difference--as a percentage--between the popular vote received by the incumbent and he popular vote received by the challenger.

So if, in the final poll of likely voters, the incumbent registers, say, 47 percent; and the challenger shows 45 percent; that means that the challenger is effectively ahead, in that particular poll...

And in today's polling numbers..........

Romney 48%

obama 44%

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - Rasmussen Reports

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Courtesy of Swissman

A gun in the hands of a free man frightens and angers the autocrat, not because he fears the power of the gun, but, rather, the spirit of the man who holds it.

ANONYMOUS