|
In the state of Washington, where Democratic Sen. Patty Murray is in a close contest with GOP businessman Dino Rossi, there's great potential for a prolonged vote count. The vast majority of votes there
-- 85 to 90 percent -- are cast by mail, and are required only to be postmarked by Election Day. That means hundreds of thousands might not be counted until two or three weeks later. Rossi is no stranger to drawn-out vote counts. He lost a 2004 bid to Gov. Chris Gregoire by 133 votes out of 2.8 million cast after a lengthy tally, two recounts and a court challenge. Results weren't final for seven months. "We know it's agonizing for the campaigns, and we know it's agonizing for the media, but these aren't just ballots that we're sitting on and holding and waiting to count, it's actually ballots that have to be verified for accountability and accuracy," said Dean Logan, the chief election official in Los Angeles County, who held the same job in King County, Wash., the state's largest, during the Gregoire-Rossi dispute. If a race remains up in the air the day after the polls close, legions of official observers and lawyers from each party descend, and the snapshots that emerge from the vote-counting process can be misleading
-- sometimes showing the eventual loser ahead simply because a new batch of votes has just been opened. Seven other states -- Arkansas, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota and Utah
-- also allow ballots to be postmarked by Election Day, according to a tally assembled by Gronke and his Portland, Ore.-based team, who track early voting and election law changes. Those states feature more than a dozen competitive House races and two for the Senate. Even in states where the ballots have to be received by Election Day, a substantial number aren't counted until later
-- because of the added time it takes to process mailed-in votes, provisional ballots given to voters whose names don't appear on the registration rolls, or write-ins. In California, for example, officials tell the media and candidates to expect that the last count they see on election night will probably be about 80 percent of the votes cast, Logan said. That's usually enough to project a winner
-- but not in the tightest of contests. And then there's the possibility of changing sides after the results are final. A decade ago, Democrats persuaded Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont to leave the GOP and vote with them, transforming an evenly divided Senate into one where Democrats had a one-seat majority. That was in May 2001, more than six months after voters went to the polls. On the other hand, some changes will occur especially quickly this year. Barring unforeseen disputes, winners of special Senate elections in Illinois, Delaware and West Virginia and House races in New York and Indiana are expected to take their seats
-- and cast their first votes in Congress -- within weeks of Election Day. They'll be sworn in for a "lame duck" session to wrap up the year's business before the new Congress convenes Jan. 3.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries
Community |
Perspectives
|
Law & Courts |
Leisure Time
|
Spiritual Life |
Health & Fitness |
Teen Scene
Calendar
|
Letters to the Editor