Number of outstanding ballots grows to 81,000 (AK)

[struggle4progress]

Source: Juneau Empire

U.S. Senate and other races yet to be decided
By Pat Forgey

The state Elections Division said Friday 81,000 votes remain to be counted, mostly early votes but also absentee and questioned ballots.

That may be enough to swing as many as six state legislative races, and the number of votes is making the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Ted Stevens and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich look increasingly close.

Stevens now leads by 3,257 votes out of 221,713 ...

Elections Division officials say they expect the next count to be done Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/110908/loc_35402470...

[NV Whino]

1. Jesus they're multiplying just like little bunny rabbits

[Arctic Dave]

2. I tlooks good for Mark Begich too.

Obama's campaign made a push for absentee voting, so as not be turned away on election day or wait in long lines.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Dave, maybe somebody was holding back a bunch

of ballots, but when people started noticing that something wasn't right, they cut them losse. Any possibility of that, do you think?

[Arctic Dave]

9. That crossed my mind also.

Repugs here are so addicted to ted's money that they would do just about anything to keep it coming in.

My tinfoil theory is the repugs tried to sweep all these absentee ballots under the rug knowing they would be predominately more democratic leaning because of the GOTV suggesting to vote early. All they would have to do is look at the number of request for absentee ballots and know it wouldn't bode well for them. Just sayin'.

[Bushies gotta go]

12. You know... his conviction WILL be appealed

by George "the criminal" Bush via a pardon.... so I can only hope that at the very least, he will be denied a victory. McConnell sure changed his tune quick... going from "ousted from the Senate" to "...if an appeal is denied"... probably once it was made known that a pardon is already in the works.

[PearliePoo2]

3. Why is it taking so long?

81,000 left to count?
They must be delivering them by dog sled.

[NV Whino]

5. Well, as long as it's not by Todd's snow machine.

[Gregorian]

13. With 50 words for snow communications are very slow.

Sarah Palin probably stashed them in an igloo somewhere.

[Ken Burch]

24. It's CANADIAN Eskimos who build the freakin' igloos!

The first Igloo in Alaska wasn't built until 1969, and that one was probably built as a joke(we have a lot of free time here in the winter, and the dark does things to people's minds.)

[Gregorian]

35. :)

Thanks for putting up with my Frank Zappa history degree. I actually expected flak from that post.

[d_b]

22. that's what i don't get.

[Omnibus]

31. It takes a long time to forge 81,000 ballots.

YOU try it sometime!

[usregimechange]

6. If we get this senate seat, Franken prevails in the recount, and we pick up GA on runoff, guess what

60

[PearliePoo2]

10. The first two are realistic...GA will be tough.

If we get to 60, maybe then Reid will hand LIEberman's ass to him.
I heard him say today that he would NOT be speaker if it wasn't for LIEberman's vote.
So, there ya have it in a nutshell, folks.

[scytherius]

15. Agreed. Really worried about turnout there. n/t

nt

[unblock]

17. the runoff in ga will be interesting; obama can campaign there, etc.

we might pull it out because we can hopefully keep our turnout higher than the republicans can.

[Libertyfirst]

20. Recommend against Obama campaigning in Georgia.

We don't want him to campaign down there the democrat lose. It would be leaped upon as a sign of weakness. Furthermore, he needs to emphasize the decisions of the transition and make it clear to the country he has moved on to the preparation for governing. Let surrogates go, but not Obama.

[unblock]

25. leaving the tactics aside, the point is the dynamics of runoff are different than the original race

obama can certainly encourage his 3 million supporter database to contribute, etc.

[RubyDuby in GA]

29. The only way we will win is to overwhelm them again

The only way to do that is to have the overwhelming majority of new voters come back out to the polls. The overwhelming majority of new voters are African Americans who were excited to vote for the 1st African American president. We will do better here if Obama comes. The runoff takes place the week after Thanksgiving when people have already gone back to their "normal" lives. We need them focused on this and if Obama were to come here and tell the people of Georgia that he needs Jim Martin in the Senate backing him up, then they will go to the polls.

www.martinforsenate.com

[Bernardo de La Paz]

26. Reid is Majority Leader, not Speaker.

[PearliePoo2]

30. You are right

brain fart

[badgervan]

32. Reid Said That?

Now we know why Reid has been so protective of slimeball joe. He should get out of the way and let someone with a spine take over. Geez.

[PearliePoo2]

33. Yes he did

Heard it with my own ears.

[Bandit]

34. You do realize the sixty is with Lieberman

The closer we get to sixty the less likely they will send him packing.

[goforit]

7. It amazes me how little number of votes in all Alaska had.

[Arctic Dave]

18. No just you. Everyone is surprised at the lack of turnout.

Even the polsters. Liberal and conservative.

[underpants]

19. Alaskans must have thought it was over or weren't to excited about not voting for Stevens

Let's not forget that part of the McCain push at the end was to get people to the polls to vote on Senate races even if he was already done for.

[Arctic Dave]

21. I would have to disagree with the not being excited part.

The level of involvement with this election was historic as far Alaskans were concerned. Repugs wanted "our Sarah" and liberals were beside themselves with excitement about Obama and getting rid of stevens and young.

[underpants]

23. Okay

you are surely right

[GreenTea]

8. Hope the Dems have some lawyers up in AK looking over the counting process or the republican will

steal the election without hesitation!

[DeadManInc]

11. that seems excessive for a state with less than 700,000 people

[BootinUp]

14. So they have only counted 2/3 of the vote so far?

Gee, maybe they need to spend a little more on their elections in Alaska.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

16. Official "reason" for the delay in counting? 26 probable Alzheimers cases who forgot they'd

voted absentee in the primary and also went to the polls in person on Election Day

Seems to me it would make more sense to release preliminary counts on Election Night and make any necessary minor adjustments later for the certified count, don't you agree?

That seems to be how it was handled before this year, even though absentee ballots could and can be valid even if they don't arrive until 15 days after Election Day.

From http://www.alaskadispatch.com/tundra-talk/1-talk-of-the... :

"Winners in some Alaska races may take days to determine

By Tony Hopfinger November 04, 2008

Alaskans may not know the outcome for some races today, including Stevens-Begich and Young-Berkowitz, because the Alaska Division of Elections will not count any of the more than 40,000 absentee ballots tonight. In past elections, the division counted some absentee ballots on Election Day and the rest afterward. But during the August primary this year, the division found that 26 Alaskans voted twice: once on their absentee ballot and again at their polling station, said Shelly Growden, the division's election systems manager. ...

"The Director of the Division of Elections, Gail Fenumiai, announced today that the division of Elections is strengthening its absentee ballot review procedures. Specifically, the division will not deem its review of absentee ballots complete until absentee voters' names can be checked against the registry of those voting at the polls on Election Day.

This cross-check cannot be done until the division receives the precinct registers used on Election Day and matches names of those who voted absentee against the precinct registers. Accordingly, the division will not be counting absentee-in-person or absentee-by-mail ballots on election night. The division anticipates completing the ballot review in time to count absentee ballots on or before the 10th day following the election.

"During the Primary election, the division determined 26 ballots were counted from voters who cast both an absentee/early ballot and voted at the polls on Election Day. Although these duplicate voters did not have an affect on the outcome of any ballot contest, the division is proactively guarding against this occurring in the future. ... Intentionally casting two ballots is against Alaska law and can be charged as a Class C felony."

[Rosa Luxemburg]

27. I don't understand why he isn't disqualified as he has been indicted?

why do we let criminals run as representatives for our country? Something is wrong.

[tclambert]

28. I liked Bill Maher's take on the Senate race.

"Alaskans have apparently re-elected a guy who's 84 and going to prison." Even if the final count gives the race to Begich, you gotta wonder what's up in Alaska if so many voted for the 84-year-old convicted felon.

[thereismore]

36. They just don't bother counting them, do they. Deplorable country. nt