Caution Recommended

On a day of massive turnout, there are scattered reports of glitches and of potentially more serious issues.

Regarding those “more serious issues,” I add the qualifier “potentially” because in one case, the early reports from right-wingers are now being questioned by left-wingers — and in another case, Ben Smith reports, the McCain/Drudge/Fox version of events has likewise been “disputed.”

For my part, I deleted an earlier, snarky post about the 2008-right attempting to make Pennsylvania into what the 2004-left tried to make Ohio — i.e., a paranoia-laced tale of a presumably stolen election. I deleted that post for two reasons: First, it was a too-quick jump to a pre-conclusion. Second, commenters rightly convinced me that, while we should carefully review and validate such reports, we shouldn’t discourage them. Doing so only risks washing away the legitimate with the illegitimate.

Net: Our collective antennae should be sharply tuned, but we should be steady and cautious in our steps to judgment. In the meantime, a friendly reminder to both those who might be attempting to skew the outcome and those who might be attempting to create mountains out of mole-hills: Knock it off. However this election turns out, it’s an historic event, a wonderful testament to the will of the American people, and it should not be tarnished by careless actions or words.

UPDATE: Ben Smith also offers Exhibit #1 in the larger case for not jumping to conclusions.