Working east to west...
Georgia will have a rematch to decide who should get the seat. As many of you know, Republican Saxby Chambliss would have won in most states with 49.8% to Democrat Jim Martin's 46.8%. But, Georgia requires this race to get plurality from its voters. 50%. So, December 2, let's see what you got Georgia. Apparently, Johnny Mac has already been dispatched to the state. Palin must be feeling left out. Oh wait, she's too busy doing five interviews a day.
Minnesota now has Republican Norm Coleman with 1,211,565 to Democrat Al Franken's 1,211,359. And then there are almost half a million voting for the third party candidate. What?!?! It's separated by 206 votes when 3 million people voted?!?! It's going to an automatic recount folks! When will we know? Ask Florida.
The shocker of my day was in Alaska. To recap. It was a close race last week, but our newest felon Senator Ted Stevens still led by about 3200 as of yesterday. After many ballots came in today (?? does anyone really understand why ballots are showing up now??), Democrat Mark Begich now leads by 3 votes. 125,019 to 125,016. Again? What's going on here?
I have no deep analysis. However, I will let you know my thoughts. Is someone just screwing with all of us? Right now, I'm somewhere between..."My vote really does count (sort of, not really in Cali)!!!" and "Where have these votes been hiding?/Where is someone hiding them?" Does anyone really understand how our election process works? Does my vote actually get counted or is there are lot of "ish" counting going on? Dad, from your ballot counting days...what happens there? Do absentee ballots actually get counted or just if they matter?
Right now, I feel like I'm back to the days of driving across the country with my mom. We had so many questions...and so few answers. It was comical then when we were asking about wheat and drilling for oil and mileage. But now, it's the future of our country. Maybe not so funny to have so few answers.
And, Palin is like a car wreck (Olbermann said she's like a man with a sore tooth...just can't stop touching it...oww!). I can't look away, but it's oh-so-awful. Actually, I think I might have my fill after tonight's "Countdown."
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2 comments:
In the days of paper ballots in Westborough, absolutely, absentee ballots were counted at the same time as the regular ballots. They were typically a different color, e.g., blue instead of white (you may remember this from when you were executing same while in Baltimore and in Palo Alto 2002-03), but they were tallied right along with regular ballots and the distinction quickly disappeared.
On the topic of one's vote counting, first, another sad story. We had visitors here over the weekend who tried to vote in California absentee. They received their envelope in plenty of time, but there were no ballots inside and the envelope was obviously tampered with. Perhaps this had more to do with Prop 8 rather than Obama vs. McCain. Sad. And further, I think everybody's vote counts, yes, even a vote for Obama in a decidedly Blue state for the reason that the plurality is important. Some of our biggest gains happened after strong mandates, witness the Civil Rights Act after LBJ overwhelmed Goldwater, etc, etc. I'm quite dismayed that Obama only received 52% of the popular vote. With an ~200 electoral vote plurality, his campaign made very efficient use of that 52%. But I was really hoping for at least 55% given all Barack had going for him -- huge Bush backlash, unprecedented (grassroots) fundraising, good performance in several unexpected demographics, McCain's poor VP choice, economic crisis, tireless campaigners like yourself, electable qualities, e.g., superior intellect, etc., etc. But given the choice our electorate made in 2000 and 2004, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Go, dad! You're totally right. I never thought of it that way, and I appreciate your perspective.
And the envelope tampering is crazy! I truly feel like I do not recognize the world I am living right now with such injustices.
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