Super Tuesday Results Could Take a While

[February 02, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Super Tuesday may be a de facto national primary, but the outcome might not be as clear - or as timely - as results in most November elections.

Unlike general elections for public office, the goal in primaries and caucuses is to win delegates to the parties' national conventions this summer. The Democrats will have 1,681 delegates at stake on Tuesday, and the Republicans will have 1,023. But it might take days to find out who wins them all.

In California, where the largest batch of delegates is at stake, a record number of absentee ballots, voting machine changes and logistical headaches have left registrars worried that they will end election night with up to 2 million ballots still to be counted, about 22 percent of the expected vote.

Voters in a total of 24 states and American Samoa, as well as Democrats around the globe, will cast ballots on Tuesday. They will take part in a hodgepodge of primaries, caucuses, a state party convention and even Internet voting by Democrats living overseas.

Tiny American Samoa is determined not to get lost in the mix - even though it is six hours behind the East Coast and doesn't take part in the general election.

Party leaders scheduled their caucus for late morning in American Samoa so the results could be reported by early evening on the East Coast - before any state other than West Virginia. The caucus will yield only three delegates to the Democratic convention, but the results could come when the news organizations are hungry for results.

A total of 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the Democratic nomination; 1,191 are needed for the Republican nomination.

Other Democrats living overseas won't have their votes counted so soon. The Democrats Abroad, an organization sanctioned by the national party, will hold a global primary with voting by mail, fax and the Internet. Expatriates can also vote in person in more than 30 countries, at hotels in Australia and Costa Rica, at a pub in Ireland and at a Starbucks in Thailand.

The voting runs from Tuesday through Feb. 12 and will determine seven Democratic delegates. But the results might not be available for a week or more because they must be gathered in Geneva, where the chairwoman, Christine Schon Marques, lives.

The results in some states could be perplexing, given the way Democrats award delegates. The Democrats award delegates proportionally, based on vote counts statewide and in individual congressional districts.

In a close contest, the loser of the statewide vote could emerge with more delegates by winning congressional districts with an odd number of delegates. Such districts can reward a razor-thin margin of victory with a larger share of those delegates. A version that of already happened in Nevada last month.

Colorado is holding Republican and Democratic caucuses Tuesday, but does not expect to have the results broken down by congressional districts on election night. That means delegates awarded in individual districts - 21 for the Republicans and 36 for the Democrats - will not be awarded until the state parties provide the results.

Alabama is scheduled to hold its primary on Tuesday. But voters in two coastal counties - Baldwin and Mobile - already voted Wednesday because Super Tuesday is also Fat Tuesday, the last day of Mardi Gras.

Carnival is an official holiday in the two counties, so the local governments shut down. The votes cast on Wednesday have been sealed and will be counted with the others on Super Tuesday - or Fat Tuesday, depending on where you live.

[Associated Press; By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER]

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