Under the Federal Voting Rights Act, any changes affecting voting in a jurisdiction with a history of voting discrimination require clearance from the Justice Department.

Under the federal Voting Rights Act, any changes that might affect voting in a jurisdiction with a history of discrimination against minority voters - which includes Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx - require Justice Department approval.

But the Defense Ministry told a legislative committee on Monday that while security forces had been put on a higher alert, that did not involve any extra personnel and so did not affect voting.

Under the Act, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx are subject to preclearance by the Department of Justice before implementing any changes affecting voting.

Under the Federal Voting Rights Act, any changes affecting voting, in a jurisdiction found to have a history of voting discrimination, require approval by the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

Yet pocketbook issues do affect voting.

"If this is a change affecting voting in one of the covered counties," he said, "then it must be submitted for pre-clearance."

This year, with more polling planned, premature leaks of results could affect voting in a country where ballots are being cast over five days, some politicians fear.

Personal bias has been known to affect voting on the IMDB, where most of the voting for films is done by the general public, not by critics, and the voting can easily be unfairly skewed.

The second category of theories on how polls directly affect voting is called strategic or tactical voting.