Talk Elections

OK here's something eerie: Obama and Romney both got identical percentages here to the hundredth of a percent. Both candidates.

What are the odds for two counties that border each other but aren't really that similar in demographics?

Stupid low, probably.  That's an interesting result, and it seems like they always vote similarly.  Probably a lot of set-in-stone voting habits in an area that's probably not changing all that much. 

Well the population might not be growing as much as similar places in other states,  the demographics are changing quite a bit in that area. kane is around 30% Hispanic these days and dupage is changing quite a bit too these are.

Is it possible that it's an error? To get the exact same percentages in two big counties.... That's pretty crazy.

I'm no mathematician, but I know there are about 3,000 counties, and almost all of them border several other counties. It seems fairly likely that out of all the possible adjacent counties, there will be a case somewhere like this.

It's hard to imagine any error that would cause two counties to report the same percentage but different vote totals...especially since these are major counties, and the results have been finalized.  It's just a small, boring miracle.

This is a beautiful turn of phrase. Commended.