[Unofficial Thread] 2012 US EVERY OTHER ELECTION

[The Yosemite Bear]

well that's one way to deal with global warming....

[Raw Shark]

I wonder if Seattle will become the new Amsterdam?

Not if Denver has anything to say about it! We have the more central location in the USA, and the culture already exists here to the extent that we have at least one restaurant specializing in edibles (you just have to flash your medical card to order from that part of the menu) so we have the head start, in my humble opinion.

I fully support a boom in marijuana tourism. Coupled with our harsh-as-fuck DUI laws, it would equal a lot of sweet, sweet revenue for those of us who drive taxis by drawing people who will be strongly incented to not risk driving, not to mention the rest of the service industry as tourism throws money at them in general, and the city, county, and state as they collect sales taxes, plus fines from people who insist on driving under the influence anyway. Will it turn the city into the nation's "red light district?" C'mon, we're not going to topple Vegas behind weed alone. Will it turn the city into the state or region's "red light district?" It already is, by the standards of the surrounding ranch country...

[mr friendly guy]

Fox news goes apeshit. What was it Eric Cartman said? Let me taste your sweet tears.

[Questor]

Aren't there a couple more things to legalize to give the moral majority fits?

I mean, its a good start, but no where near Amsterdam levels of "depravity".

[Dalton]

Kyrsten Sinema is an openly-bisexual atheist who just won the House seat in Arizona's 9th District.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Kyrsten Sinema is an openly-bisexual atheist who just won the House seat in Arizona's 9th District.

Arizona? That's not the first, or even the tenth state I'd have guessed.

[Dalton]

Kyrsten Sinema is an openly-bisexual atheist who just won the House seat in Arizona's 9th District.

Arizona? That's not the first, or even the tenth state I'd have guessed.

I know, right? The previous sole atheist in Congress was Pete Stark, who just lost his seat in California's 13th District. Arizona's 9th is a new district too, which means no incumbent to fight off.

[Flagg]

It's fucking Friday and the WA Governors race still hasn't been called. Alot of people are blaming the vote by mail system we use for delays, but I've been hearing that even if we had normal election days this would still be the slowest state. Maybe use some of the Marijuana tax money to speed things the fuck up?

[Dalton]

Jay Inslee has a clear lead, but it's only 55% in. What?

[Dalton]

NBC called the race; Inslee is the projected winner.

[Flagg]

Jay Inslee has a clear lead, but it's only 55% in. What?

It was showing 82% in on the Seattle Times site. But yeah, I saw Rachel Announce it. The thing is, by our system ballots must be postmarked by election day not actually arrive by election day, so they don't necessarily know how many ballots there will even be to count until a few days after election day. But everyone who wants to vote can, and doesn't need to stand in an 8 hour line.

[Dominus Atheos]

That's dumb. Oregon specifies that they arrive by election day and postmarks don't count.

[Block]

That's dumb. Oregon specifies that they arrive by election day and postmarks don't count.

See, I think that's dumb. Sometimes it takes mail a while to get there, it's rare, but if it's clearly postmarked by the deadline your vote should be counted, you did what you were supposed to.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

Maine has something of a compromise where it has to be postmarked by the Thursday before Election Day, or else handed in any time up to Election Day.

[Dalton]

NBC has called the Arizona 9th CD; Kyrsten Sinema is the winner. Say hello to your new bisexual atheist congresswoman

[Irbis]

On the flip side, Arizona also picked new (old) sheriff, Arpaio.

[Dalton]

Ugh what a piece of bigoted shit.

[Broken]

Isn't something massive like a third of all of Arizona's votes not even counted yet? That was from AZ Secretary of State Ken Bennett on Thursday, so I guess enough of those have been counted to make the calls. Still sucks that Arpaio got re-elected, is that federal trial still going on?

[The Yosemite Bear]

no, people accused the justice department of playing politics and they dropped the charges against him. Also most of that third of all votes not counted are youth and minorities in Maricopa county who were forced to use provisional ballots and were challenged for their elegibility by Arpios folks.

[Edi]

In other news, Cat Places Third in Virginia Senate Race

Scott Bomboy, Constitution Daily
Posted: Thursday, November 8, 2012, 4:22 PM

Bomboy is editor of the National Constitution Center

The battle for the U.S. Senate between Tim Kaine and George Allen in Virginia may have been settled in the litter box instead of the ballot box if the tightly contested election had come down to about 6,000 votes given to a cat.

It’s entirely possible that third-place finisher in Virginia is Hank the Cat, a Maine Coon who ran on a pro-feline, job-creation platform.

In the current online results, Kaine is ahead of Allen by about 184,000 votes as of Thursday morning. The race was expected to be very close, and it was part of a record spending spree in the state that also featured a tight race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

But an examination of the official voting ballot online shows that there apparently wasn’t a candidate from a known third party listed on the ballot below Kaine and Allen, unlike past years. There also isn’t a third-party candidate listed on the election board website among its election results.

Hank the Cat had been running for the U.S. Senate since last winter as a part of a spoof on the modern election process. He received extended coverage in The Washington Post in February.

Hank even wrote a campaign blog for The Huffington Post in October, praising another cat running for office in Canada, Tuxedo Stan. That was after Hank survived an attack ad launched by a faux pro-dog super PAC.

Unfortunately for Hank, TV show host Ellen DeGeneres gave a public endorsement to Stan, and not Hank, on her show.

“I don’t like to get political—but I would vote for that cat,” she said.

While having a cat run for the Senate may seem like a joking matter, a total of more than 6,000 votes in a close election isn’t.

A future president, Lyndon B. Johnson, won his first U.S. Senate race in Texas by 27 votes. And we all know how close the 2000 presidential race was in Florida.

Today in Wisconsin, functional control of that state’s Senate will come down to an election decided by 590 votes.

And for the record, Hank’s total is about 7,000 votes less than the presidential votes received in Virginia by Virgil Goode, who was seen as a potential spoiler in the Obama-Romney race.

Back in Virginia, we found the official election results from Tuesday’s Senate race.

Kaine has 1.9 million votes, while Allen has 1.7 million. The total number of write-in votes was 29,121.

Fairfax County, where the cat’s campaign is located, cast a total of 1,989 write-in votes, while about 22,000 write-ins came from Arlington County.

In past U.S. Senate elections in Virginia, Hank would have finished in fifth place in 2008, and in fourth place in 2006.

Virginia doesn’t list the names of write-in candidates, but it does show the number of write-in votes by county. So we don’t know for sure if Hank came in third, but it’s a growing possibility.

Matthew O’Leary, the campaign manager for Hank, tells Constitution Daily that his candidate has 6,832 votes as of Thursday morning, not counting absentee and provisional ballots.

O’Leary says it is the highest total for a write-in U.S. Senate candidate in Virginia since 2002, which would likely indicate that Hank finished third behind Kaine and Allen, when the election board releases that data.

O’Leary hopes to have a final vote count on Tuesday, November 13, when Virginia’s precincts have to file certified results. He also will contact each of Virginia’s 134 precincts to request write-in results.

And in case you’re wondering, it doesn’t appear Hank would be constitutionally eligible to hold office.

For starters, Hank is just 10 years old. A U.S. senator has to be 30 years of age (and most likely a human) to hold office.

[Ralin]

For starters, Hank is just 10 years old. A U.S. senator has to be 30 years of age (and most likely a human) to hold office.

I don't think the Constitution actually says that you have to be human to hold office...

[LaCroix]

Well, there is precedent for this, on the local level.

15 Years of (c)lawful reign

[Dalton]

Bit more good news for Dems; Barber, who replaced Giffords in AZ, won a full term. This was one of those tight races involving those controversial provisional ballots cast primarily by Latino voters.

[Flagg]

NBCNews.com

Florida Congressman Allen West still not conceding defeat in House race

By Reuters

Tea Party-backed Republican Congressman Allen West said he was still not ready to concede defeat on Sunday, almost two weeks after the Nov. 6 election, when the clock ran out on a partial recount in South Florida.

Results showing West trailing Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy by 1,900 votes were now expected to be turned over to the state Division of Elections for official certification.

West was granted a recount of early ballots in St. Lucie county at the weekend, but officials were unable to complete the process before time ran out at midday on Sunday.

"Today at noon, it became clear Patrick Murphy will be officially certified as the next congressman from the 18th Congressional District," said Murphy's campaign manager Anthony Kusich. "It is beyond time to put this campaign behind us."

Under Florida law, in the event of an incomplete recount the original returns are automatically submitted for certification by the state.

"This is election is far from over," said West's campaign manager, Tim Edson, in a statement calling the results "highly suspect."

"We will continue to fight on behalf of all voters in District 18 to ensure a fair and accurate count of their votes," he added, without saying how the campaign planned to challenge the result.

West, 51, a former Army lieutenant colonel, is seeking his second term in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans held onto their majority in the election.

With the help of the conservative Tea Party movement, West amassed one of the largest campaign war chests among House Republicans. His supporters include Americans for Prosperity, the conservative political advocacy group funded by the billionaire Koch brothers.

Murphy, 29, a political newcomer in his first congressional race, ran a surprisingly well-backed campaign focused on branding West as a divisive right-wing extremist.
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters.

This lunatic still won't quit. Time to break out the 'Sore/ Loserman' signs. Right Republicans? Right? Right?

*Crickets*

Right?

By the way, I hope he has to pay for that recount. I'm sure the taxpayers of Florida don't appreciate his waste of their money.

[Flagg]

Shit, forgot about this thread. Sorry.