Is there a precinct outstanding?

I've read some places stating all precints are in and other saying 1 precinct from Franklin is uncounted.

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by: ChadInFL @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 21:47:12 PM CST

It's a "Federal only" precinct

Chad,

Franklin county uses a "Federal Only" precinct that exists only on paper for those voters who are long term overseas residents (missionaries for example) who are U.S. citizens and entitled to vote only in Federal elections (Congress and the White House) because although they are citizens, they no longer claim a residence any where here. They are permanently assigned to whatever county they lived in when they left the country, but they're not entitled to vote in local races, just Federal.

As long as their absentee ballots were postmarked the day before the election, they count. Obviously, if someone in New Guinea mailed their absentee ballot the day before the election, it hasn't reached Columbus yet. But it will be counted in the "final" tally.

This is from the Franklin County BOE website:

There is a Federal precinct for those voters who are entitled to vote Federal offices only (President and Representative to Congress).

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by: ohio_anon @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 07:07:32 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Small correction

According to the Ohio Sos:

Nov. 14 Out-of-country civilian absentee ballots must be postmarked or signed before the close of the polls on
November 4 and must be received by boards of elections by this date to be counted
(10 days after general election) 3509.05 (Ohio Revised Code)
Out-of-country armed service absentee ballots must be signed on or before the close of the polls
on November 4 and must be received by boards of elections by this date to be counted
(10 days after general election) 3511.11

Here's the link to the whole calendar for this year >>> It'a pdf from the SoS that is on each county's website.

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by: ohio_anon @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 07:20:43 AM CST

[ Parent ]

"day of" not "day before" my bad n/t

And note the very slight change in wording regarding civilian vs. G.I. ballots. The "or" baffles me. How could your ballot envelope be postmarked before you've signed the ballot inside...

Our oldest is an active duty Navy petty officer. He says that if you are aboard ship and underway overseas as long as you sign your ballot on the day of the election, (before 7:30 PM local time or Ohio time? Hmmmn...) it's OK, although it might not get "postmarked" until they reach land.

BUT, it still has to reach Ohio by Nov. 14.

Clearly, Ohio election law is designed to ensure gainful employment for many, many lawyers.

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by: ohio_anon @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 07:29:44 AM CST

[ Parent ]

OH-15

With thousands of provisions out we can win it.

Also Burner is now behind 2,000 votes in WA-08 and is doing worse in Pearce now. However, great news from the PI:

Officials in King County, where nearly 80 percent of the district's 450,000 voters live, expected to count about half of the ballots from Tuesday's election by late Wednesday. That count will include all the votes cast at polling places Tuesday but only a fraction of the mail ballots used by a majority of voters. Elections officials have said it will take them a week to count all, or nearly all, of the votes. The district stretches into eastern Pierce County, and vote counting there is proceeding at a similar pace.

Looks like the count Burner is currently winning in King just includes mostly election day ballots. I've got to imagine she'll increase her margins further with early ballots. Maybe she can win.

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by: Progressive America @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 21:50:09 PM CST

Link

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/...

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by: Progressive America @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 21:50:49 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Great news, thanks for the official heads up.

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by: JeremiahTheMessiah @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 22:00:23 PM CST

Peter Goldmark won his race in WA

He was one of my favorite Dems who lost in 2006.  He won Washington's Commissioner of Public Lands by a slim margin.

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by: ChadInFL @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 22:00:36 PM CST

YAY!

I really liked him too. Looks like the longer we wait this out the bad news starts diminishing little by little (I was ready to throw a tantrum if Merckley did not win).

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by: trowaman @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 22:18:49 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Calm down. It's not the end of the world.

I know that we're all really hungry for revenge after being screwed by the Republicans for so long, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Dude, even I've calmed down from the initial shock of losing KY-Sen, MS-Sen*, and seeing a consistent lead for Senator Material Clogging the Tubes.

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway: http://www.washingtonmonthly.c...

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by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 22:38:55 PM CST

[ Parent ]

What great news!

Peter is an old college pal of mine and is incredibly qualified.  He is just the sort of official that WA needs, especially in that position.  I wish he had won his Congressional race in '06.

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by: Boston Raven @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 11:42:52 AM CST

[ Parent ]

OH-15

Thank you, thank you, thank you, David as well as ohio_anon and DCal.  I feel better trying to hold onto hope now that the discrepancy has been identified and explained.  I do remember now from the 2006 races and from Paul Hackett's race that the the county with the greatest number of people in a congressional district reported for the entire district.  But it's the kind of local nuance one can easily forget when following 435 races in 50 states.

This is why I rely on Swing State Project so much.  Not just the great posts by David and James but also the input from regulars and readers who add local flavor as well as expertise and experience.  

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by: phonatic @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 22:33:56 PM CST

Fantastic news

Let's win this one as well!

This will hopefully mean that Kilroy takes the lead on Nov 14th and then the recount holds that.

I'm really hoping all the close races go our ways, this, VA-05, WA-08 and hopefully MN-Sen and AK-Sen.

Also, if we donate money to Martin will he be able to use it for the runoff? Beacuse if he can what are we waiting for! That's a critical seat we need to win.

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by: Populista @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 22:49:17 PM CST

Agree - $5000 fundraising push ??

If SSP does it, I'm in.

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by: Progressive America @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 23:03:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm in and we all should be.

Check out this video from the DSCC. Jim reminds of why I like Southern Democrats so much.

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by: nrimmer @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 23:09:06 PM CST

[ Parent ]

mid-December?

It could be more than 10 days before the final result.
From the final lines of  the article that was linked to in the post:

Pryce held a lead of more than 3,000 votes on the day after the 2006 election, but her margin decreased when provisional ballots were counted. That race fell within the 0.5-percent margin to trigger a mandatory recount.

That recount wasn't finished until almost mid-December.

So will OH-15 follow the same path in 2008 as in 2006?

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by: homerun @ Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 22:52:57 PM CST

It just gets worse...

The real takeaway answer: Nothing has been decided. AND nothing will be decided for:

Pick one: A) a couple of weeks or B) a couple of months.

Last night at 7:36 PM, (seven and a half hours AFTER the "deadline" to release a preliminary tally), Franklin county issued a NEW set of numbers for those precincts in Franklin county that are within OH-15. It now looks as if the total SO FAR has narrowed to less than 150 votes!

HOWEVER that STILL does not include overseas absentee ballots (small number-- likely to go against us) OR the THOUSANDS of provisionals (which I hope will go strongly for Kilroy)

For the first two hours in the morning on Tuesday, many tens of thousands of voters were INCORRECTLY "flagged" in the precinct poll books and forced to vote UNNEEDED provo ballots. At 9:30 the SoS ordered the Franklin County BoE to robocall every precinct and tell them to knock it off and to allow those who had been "flagged" to vote regular ballots.

Some things to know about Ohio:

1. The GOP  created this mess with malice aforethought.

2. All of the GOP local voting officials and MANY of the Democrats are just complete hacks. For example, in Lucas County (Toledo) the Dems are the worst DINOs on the planet and (until recently) the Dem voting officials SUCK just as bad as their GOP counterparts. Incredibly this is also true to a greater or lesser degree in Cuyahoga (Cleveland) Montgomery (Dayton) and Franklin (Columbus.)

So, in any dispute between Judge Brunner and any local official:

GO WITH JENNIFER!

Who the GOP are already trying to knock off...

Anyone in the 'sphere who cares about Truth, Justice and the American Way should get behind her. Her reelection in 2010 will be perhaps THE most important state election in the friggin' country.

Good news: Notice that the GOP is "zip for the whole enchilada" in court against her... and with Rich Cordray as our new AG, the GOPers are screwed up against people so competent that they don't have a chance...

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by: ohio_anon @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 08:50:47 AM CST