Election 2008 Odds and Ends -- Waiting for Missouri and Alaska, Pro-Marijuana Initiatives and More...

Today's column is in three parts. The first two are updates on the Missouri presidential election results and the Alaskan Senate election results, and then a quick rundown of some of the state-level ballot initiatives you may have missed out on... what with all the other election excitement this year.

First, though, I got tired of endlessly downloading various "election results" webpages, in the hopes of getting some final results. And I also got tired of waiting for the mainstream media to do its job and inform the public what is going on with the remaining states, whose election results have not yet been reported. So I called up the state election officials myself, and thought I would share with you what I found.

I started this process last Friday, and you can read what is going on with Minnesota's Senate race in my previous column. There are three other big races left to call, and six more House races (which I did not have time to cover, sorry). The first is Georgia, which will be holding a runoff election between the top two vote-getters on December 2nd. Incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss won a clear plurality of the vote, but under Georgia law you are required to get a majority vote to win -- in other words, 50% plus one vote. Chambliss fell just short of this. He will be the favorite in the runoff election, making an upset win by his challenger (Democrat Jim Martin) a long shot at best. The big unanswered question is whether Barack Obama will aid Martin in the runoff election campaign (John McCain has already promised to help Chambliss).

But while the Georgia situation was widely reported a few days after the election, we have had a virtual news blackout on what is going on in the other two states we're waiting for -- Missouri's presidential results, and Alaska's senatorial results.

Here is what I managed to find out.

 

Missouri

Missouri is the only state which has not been "called" for John McCain and Barack Obama. Come on Missouri, "show me" the votes! [OK, I apologize. I just couldn't resist saying that...] Figures from the Missouri Secretary of State's office show McCain with a lead of 4,969 votes, out of a total of over 2.9 million votes cast (a difference of a mere 0.17%).

The state still has a few hundred absentee votes to count, as well as about 6,300 provisional ballots to verify. So, theoretically, if all the provisional ballots were legitimate and they voted overwhelmingly for Obama, he could still win the state. But it has to be considered an extreme long shot. Especially since not all of the provisional ballots will wind up being authenticated (this is normal in any election). So while Missouri remains up in the air officially, Obama supporters shouldn't get their hopes up too far for snagging Missouri's 11 electoral votes. Looks like Obama may just have to settle for only (and I say that with tongue firmly in cheek) 365 total electoral votes -- a razor-thin (ahem) 95 more electoral votes than he needed to win. Instead of 106.

We should know for certain by the middle of next week. As Laura Egerdal, Communications Director for Missouri's Secretary of State put it, "We'll find out on November 18th." That is the date when all the counting will be complete, by state law. While Missouri has no automatic-recount law for close elections, either candidate could formally request a recount after the date when the results are certified (December 9th). But since Missouri's status cannot change the overall outcome of the presidential election, it is likely that no such recount will take place.

 

Alaska

Alaska's Senate race between Ted Stevens and Mark Begich is still up in the air as well. Currently, figures on the official Alaskan Division of Elections website show Stevens with a 3,257 vote lead, out of 221,713 votes cast (a difference of 1.47%). But there are media reports claiming tens of thousands of mail-in ballots (absentee and early voting) and provisional ballots, which are yet to be counted (estimates range as high as 70,000 to over 80,000). Alaska's vote should be verified by November 14th, and certified on December 1st, but they are trying to get some sort of public announcement out by this Wednesday, so watch for that.

A recount in Alaska is possible, but the rules are fairly strict. The only automatic recount in Alaskan law would happen if there was an exact tie. Otherwise, one of the candidates must request a recount, and state their basis for asking (some sort of justifiable reason that mistakes had been made). If the vote is within 0.5% then the state pays for such a recount, but if not, then the requesting candidate must put up a deposit to cover the recount's cost -- which is only refunded if their claim of mistakes made proves to be valid. So while this still doesn't give us much new information on the actual state of the race, it at least clears up the process involved.

 

Other election odds and ends

While California's gay marriage ban got a lot of coverage in the media, there were other ballot initiatives across America which you may have missed. Here are just a few of the other laws which passed (or failed to pass) this election:

Michigan became the 13th state to allow medical marijuana, by a stunningly-large margin of 63% in favor to 37% opposed -- which has to have set some sort of record for a medical marijuana vote margin. This can be interpreted as: medical marijuana is becoming more and more mainstream in American society. One-fourth of all American states have now approved the concept. President Obama should take the lead on this issue, and push to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II dangerous controlled substance (instead of Schedule I) -- which would mean federal law would no longer stand in the way of these state-level experiments, and would end DEA raids of terminally-ill cancer patients and federal harassment of doctors who prescribe marijuana.

Massachusetts became the 13th state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for anyone (sick or not), again by a whoppingly-large margin of 65% to 35%. This could build support for Congressman Barney Frank's proposal to change federal law to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana on federal property.

Massachusetts also banned dog (greyhound) racing, and rejected a libertarian measure to end the state's income tax.

Washington state voted 58% to 42% in favor of physician-assisted suicide, becoming only the second state in the nation to do so (following its neighbor to the south, Oregon).

Missouri voted overwhelmingly for English as the official state language, but Oregon rejected a measure to limit bilingual education. Colorado strongly voted (73% to 27%) to reject redefining legal "personhood" back to the moment of fertilization. South Dakota rejected a draconian anti-abortion law as well, although it was a lot closer (55% to 45%).

And while California got most of the news exposure, Florida and Arizona also voted to ban gay marriage. Arkansas banned any unmarried cohabitating couples (gay or straight) from adopting or fostering a child.

And, a disappointment to many, San Francisco did not vote to name its new sewage plant after George W. Bush.

 

Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com

 

Comments

[Vixter]

I am a St. Louis county dem. election supervisor - & I thank you for info that I didn't know. The last that I heard was that there was a 6000 vote differential, with 7100 provisional ballots to be counted. You have found out that there are also absentee ballots to be counted, which makes my heart soar that maybe, nay hopefully, MO will not be going red this year. After all this time, I feel that we should officially be counted as PURPLE. I agree with you - SHOW ME THE VOTES.

BTW, the English as official language was already law in the books. The vote was to make it an amendment to the constitution.

[Chris Weigant - Huffpost Blogger]

Vixter -

I apologize for not answering this before now, as it escaped my attention. Missouri officially (as you are likely aware by now) missed being a blue state by about 3,000 votes. Sigh. Well, better luck next time, I guess.

I have to say, though, your state-level boss' office really does have a pleasant and helpful press department!

-CW

[Michale32086]

@CW

}}}}
Here's an interesting article from Glenn Greenwald (who I believe has legal training as well as being a tireless blogger) which discusses exactly what you're talking about.
{{{{

There is one interesting point from that Greenwald article. It points to a WSJ article that has this quote:

"President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies, advisers say, an approach that is almost certain to create tension within the Democratic Party."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122636726473415991.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Hmmmmm

I seem to recall saying that a President Obama might be inclined to continue the CT Policies of the Bush Administration because they are the RIGHT THING TO DO...

See!? My prognostications are not ALWAYS dead wrong.. :D

Michale.....

[Michale32086]

@laocoon

}}}
You do not seem to have read or understood Rugbymoms post. He is not intending to bypass congress, he is intending to undo the bypassing that Bush has already done did. If he does something different you may then have a point but you just seem to want to ignore what Rugby said.
{{{

Not at all.. I understand perfectly what Rugbymom said..

But she is only partially correct..

Yes, Obama stated that he will take a look at Bush's Executive Orders and get rid of some.. But he ALSO said that he would use OTHER Executive Orders to bypass Congress..

WASHINGTON " President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.

John Podesta, Obama's transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own.

"There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," Podesta said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081109/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama

Michale.....

[Chris Weigant - Huffpost Blogger]

Michale -

Here's an interesting article from Glenn Greenwald (who I believe has legal training as well as being a tireless blogger) which discusses exactly what you're talking about.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/11/lieberman/index.html

It's an interesting constitutional question, but I'm going to wait and see what actually happens (after 1/20/09) before I jump into this fray.

-CW

[Michale32086]

I avoid Greenwald usually. Yes, he is a constitutional scholar, but he is also rabidly partisan and it's obvious from his writings that THAT comes first and his being a constitutional scholar comes second.

But, I'll check out that article though.....

..... And I am glad I did. It's a good read...

I disagree with Greenwald on the substance, but he makes the point that Democrats should be making if they weren't hypocrites..

I see what Greenwald is trying to say and, all things being equal, he WOULD be right... But when you consider the complete and total ineptness of this Congress, what's a President to do??

Michale.....

[Bitsko]

"Arkansas banned any unmarried cohabitating couples (gay or straight) from adopting or fostering a child." Where was Bill Clinton on this one?

[KMan1]

Good stuff thanks for putting this together.

[harriscrl3]

I personally think Missouri doesnt want to mess up their record of being the state to chose the President because frankly at this point does it really matter unless there is some other agenda. They could easily have just awarded the state to McCain.

Carol

[cmilburn]

This St. Louisian who worked his tail off for Obama says it's a matter of pride. Not for the bellweather status, that's silly. No, it's pride for all the hard work we did here and we want to be able to say WE brought Missouri to Obama.

Besides, I had $20 on it.

[laocoon]

Having voted in Mo. I would like to see my guy win here and show that Mo. knows its a** from a hole in the ground.

[DMcAdam]

Regarding the Georgia senate race. I've been trying to get someone in the press to look at this.

For over a year, Chambliss responded to my emailed correspondence about the war in Iraq with the exact same letter. I received this robo-letter about 14 times over this period of time. After about the 12th time, I called his office to complain. Again, I received the duplicate letter. I complained again and weeks later received the letter again. The letter has since been updated.

I hope someone at the Huffingtonpost will look into this. I saved all of the electronic correspondence.

It makes me ill to think that Chambliss may have been sending this same letter to families of deployed soldiers.

[ellocoliberal]

They probably laughed at you as they knowingly did this.

[phlashba]

Yes...Thanks so much! I can not believe how much searching I had to do and still found nothing! The MSM continues its slide to irrelevancy!

[Bitsko]

Here here.

[Liberoservative]

I am one of those absentee Missouri voters........

While it looks like my state will go McCain, I can be proud that we "almost" went blue....

I think if you look at MO voting history, it will be a rare thing that it ever went blue.... especially Greene County, which is where I vote.

So.... GO MO for BO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 I am so proud of my home state!!!!!!!!!1

[Chris Weigant - Huffpost Blogger]

Liberoservative -

Well, I have to say your Secretary of State has a very pleasant and efficient press department, so my compliments on that. They were very helpful and didn't even snicker when I proclaimed myself a blogger.

Didn't MO lose its status as "the bellweather state" this time around? Hadn't MO voted for the winner in the presidential election for something like 70 or 80 years prior to this year? I may be remembering that wrong, there are actually a lot of states that make some sort of "bellweather" claim, but I thought MO had the best track record... up until this year.

But you guys did come awfully close, I have to admit. I'm not positive, but I think you folks get the "closest state" award for the whole presidential election this year...

-CW

[Liberoservative]

Yup yup!

We lost "Bellweather State" status this year...


Yay for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I am so proud of my other "Show Me" peeps!

[Bitsko]

Thanks for the informative article. Some good news, some bad news; just like America itself.

[laocoon]

A local Fox TV analyst has noted that Mo. easily elected a white democrat as governor while showing more resistance to Obama than North Carolina and Virginia. He was suggesting that Mo. has some of the worst racism in the country. He may be right. This is a state that has some extreme "southern" elements along with some very progressive areas. Mo. fought the civil war longer than anyone else- 1850's into the 1870's .

[nypoet22]

RE: Alaska

any idea what happens if stevens goes to jail or gets booted from the senate before the votes finish getting counted?

[Jacqueass]

Probably, Stevens gets pardoned on the day Bush leaves office. Stevens steps down "for the good of the people" (actually as quid pro quo for the pardon) and Palin names a successor until special election in 2010. Alaskans need to find out what happened to all their missing votes. Stevens could not possibly have won without some shenanigans.

[Chris Weigant - Huffpost Blogger]

Jacqueass -

Now there's a sneaky thought. Hadn't considered the curveball of a Bush pardon in the middle of this mess. But if Stevens leaves office, due to other past shenanigans from AK (Murkowski appointing his daughter to the Senate), they have changed the law. If Stevens leaves, Palin has 30 days to call a special election, which must take place in 60-90 days to replace him. She can name a successor, but that successor only gets to be a Senator until after the special election (a very limited time). Of course, there's nothing stopping her from running for the Senate in that special election...

-CW

[Chris Weigant - Huffpost Blogger]

nypoet22 -

I don't see much chance of that happening, since his appeal will probably take months and months. I don't even think he's scheduled for sentencing until January. As for getting booted, there is talk (from an ultra-conservative GOP Senator) of expelling him during the expected lame duck session. But it would take 67 votes to do so, and that's a pretty high bar with the current makeup of the Senate. Now, both or either of those may happen next year, but we'll almost surely know the official vote count before then.

-CW

[Hiphopcrates]

I think we need to name the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after Dubya!

[Mason]

I'm disappointed by the failure of San Franciscans to name the sewage treatment plant after GWB. What was the final vote?

[Chris Weigant - Huffpost Blogger]

Mason -

It was pretty lopsided, something like 70/30 against. I think a few things worked to defeat it -- (1) it was just kind of a joke in the first place, (2) the treatment plant is one of the greenest and cleanest in the country, so there was resentment at naming something green after Bush, and (3) some people thought it was silly and disrespectful.

But I'm just guessing, really. Any San Franciscans out there with a better explanation?

-CW

[gaydm]

Not a San Fransiscan, but I was a Sewage Treatment Plant operator. I know that I would NOT wish to have my s@$t plants name, defiled in such a way as having it named for that man. Sewage Treatment plant's at least clean up the mess. They do not make it.

[fiona14]

Thanks for this informative article. I've been amazed and frustrated by how difficult it has been to find the information you've provided here. Thanks for saving me hours of searching the Internet.

[Chris Weigant - Huffpost Blogger]

fiona14 -

No problem. I got frustrated waiting for others to gather this info, and finally decided to do it myself..

-CW

[Dap]

And a hearty well done to ya!