Not endorsing the idea of fraud, but fraud isn't just pulling something shifty and hoping the other guy doesn't notice. Successful frauds are hard to detect by design. Measures and countermeasures. More time means more opportunity to get it right. The allegation is not that some doofus is printing off a bazillion extra ballots and throwing them onto the pile. The allegation is than some smart people have time to analyze the math (partial returns) and engineer a fix that is not statistically obvious. You can argue this is not happening, but it would be silly to say that it is impossible.

EDIT (Reason: Brain fart): Left out the answer to your question. Slowing results gives a would-be-fraudster time to work because it limits the flow of information and allows fine tuning. Think of it more like a PID control system; if you don't have to make a one shot correction, why would you? Tune the fix as the data comes in.

Not endorsing the idea of fraud, but fraud isn't just pulling something shifty and hoping the other guy doesn't notice. Successful frauds are hard to detect by design. Measures and countermeasures. More time means more opportunity to get it right. The allegation is not that some doofus is printing off a bazillion extra ballots and throwing them onto the pile. The allegation is than some smart people have time to analyze the math (partial returns) and engineer a fix that is not statistically obvious. You can argue this is not happening, but it would be silly to say that it is impossible.

EDIT (Reason: Brain fart): Left out the answer to your question. Slowing results gives a would-be-fraudster time to work because limits the flow of information and allows fine tuning. Think of it more like a PID control system; if you don't have to make to one shot correction, why would you? Tune the fix as the data comes in.

Not endorsing the idea of fraud, but fraud isn't just pulling something shifty and hoping the other guy doesn't notice. Successful frauds are hard to detect by design. Measures and countermeasures. More time means more opportunity to get it right. The allegation is not that some doofus is printing off a bazillion extra ballots and throwing them onto the pile. The allegation is than some smart people have time to analyze the math (partial returns) and engineer a fix that is not statistically obvious. You can argue this is not happening, but it would be silly to say that it is impossible.