What makes me sceptical (I am British - we don't get skeptical)? OK:-
I don't believe the 27% number for a start and although I have read a lot of DV related stuff I cannot for the life of me figure out how you might get such a statistic. Lots of people come up with alternative ways of looking at the same data, but I normally do understand the basis for the data.
Next, there is lots of evidence that shows numbers progress normally throughout the year (as they have this year). During the months when regions go current, that is NOT normally when the bulk of the work is done, it is normally the stragglers by that point. For example, to take DV2013. THe highest number that we know of that went through the CEAC system for that year was 1638. Only 10 cases are shown with numbers above the August cutoff of 1600. A total of 24 people. So that is 10 cases out of 500 - so that suggests 98% of the cases for OC were current by August. Doesn't seem like they held anything back.
Source of that -
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...VWWnJoV1BZSTF0R0JGeVRSTFE&usp=drive_web#gid=4
So this year looks like last year with the exception that we have a lot of people still to be processed. Your answer to that is essentially that they are saving the best for last and getting the bigger regions sorted out first, but if you look at every other region you will see that there are LOTS of people still to be processed there also. THere are simply too many selectees this year, and unless you believe in miracles and incompetent management being the best way forward, there is no way they would leave such a massive workload to be done in the one remaining month instead of spreading the workload over 12 months.
Sorry Typo - my heart is ready to believe in just about anything, but my head won't let it.