From the Editor

By Peter Allen
     
      Rigged elections?and allegations of rigged elections?are as American as apple pie and guns. Charges that the Republicans committed voter fraud in the 2004 presidential election with the help of newfangled electronic voting machines is part of a stolen-election narrative in America that probably began with Andrew Jackson?s loss in the 1824 presidential election. With the most recent allegations of voter fraud, critics of electronic voting machines have pressed their case in the courts and in the blogosphere. As Chris Thompson points out in this month?s cover story (?This Democracy Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties?Please Stand By,? page 24), the voting-machine faultfinders come from two main camps. ?One group sees Diebold and other voting-machine manufacturers as conspiring with local officials to rig elections,?
     
      Thompson says. ?For another group, what?s at stake is the integrity of the electoral process. It?s essentially the same criticism, but coming from very different places.? Thompson says he knew very little about the subject before he reported the story. So what does he make of the controversy now? ?My impulse was to dismiss it as a tempest in a teapot,? he says. ?But I became more alarmed as I began reporting the story. By the time I finished my investigation, though, I ended up much closer to my original impression. I think fixing an election with these machines is unlikely. The logistics problems are just too great, and the companies producing the voting machines are more interested in making money than in trying to figure out how to fix an election. That said, I think the counties that purchased the electronic voting machines are far too enamored with technology. The machines do have problems with accuracy, and they?re expensive to buy and store.?
     
      This month?s issue also carries our annual look at the state?s largest law firms (?The California 50,? page 31). Part of our listings this time are statistics culled from a new product from Thomson West. West Monitor Suite has created a huge database of state and federal court filings, as well as SEC filings. The range of possible patterns the company says it can spot with its database is vast, but we asked Thompson West representatives to point out just the busiest litigating and deal-making law firms in the country and the state. See page 33 for the results. (More information on the product can be found at www.westmonitor.com.)

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