The “Bush stole the election” meme was dealt a blow today when Slate’s Josh Levin finally examined one of the key claims – that vote totals for Bush in Florida counties using optical scan ballots were disproportionately high, indicating that nefarious conspiracies were afoot. Lo and behold, the vote totals in those counties weren’t that different from 2000, as I suspected:

In response to my piece on election conspiracy theories, many readers have asked about supposed irregularities in Florida counties that use optical-scan voting machines. In Baker County, where 69 percent of registered voters identify as Democrats, 77 percent of voters went for Bush. Dixie County: 78 percent registered Democrats, 69 percent for Bush. Franklin County: 77 percent registered Dems, 59 percent for Bush. Holmes County: 73 percent registered Dems, 77 percent for Bush.

…The big problem with this theory is that this year’s results match those from 2000… In 2000, Baker County had 83 percent registered Democrats, and 69 percent of the county’s voters went for Bush. Dixie County had 86 percent registered Democrats, and 58 percent went for Bush. Franklin County: 81 percent registered Dems, 53 percent for Bush. Holmes County: 83 percent registered Dems, 68 percent for Bush…

While each of these counties had a lower percentage of Bush voters in 2000 than in 2004, the 2000 election was much closer than this one. Each of these counties also appears to be moving toward the GOP. In all four, there is a lower percentage of registered Democrats and a higher percentage of registered Republicans in 2004 than in 2000.

Update: Here’s more on problems with the conspiracy theories from Salon and the Los Angeles Times.