Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledges that elections may not be held at all in 20 percent to 25 percent of Iraq because of continuing violence. (International Herald Tribune) Just so we can see how insanely ridiculous this is, removing 25% of our population from our electorate would roughly eliminate all of the following states from the election:
Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas Colorado Connecticut Delaware Hawaii Idaho Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Minnesota Mississippi Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Mexico North Dakota Oklahoma Oregon Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Utah Vermont West Virginia Wyoming
Gee, you think such an election here might be called illegitimate? You think there might be a little ruckus on the part of these folks as a result?
[NOTE: Removing 25% of the geographic area of the U.S. could result in an even higher number of disenfranchised voters.]
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/27/11939/1752