Today’s the day! Below is a list of poll closing times and races to watch in five states:
| State | Polls Close | Races to Watch | Results | Key Blogs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 6pm and 7pm EST | Governor/Lt. Gov, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor, Treasurer, Agriculture Commissioner | KY SoS | Bluegrass Report |
| Mississippi | 8pm EST | Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor, Treasurer, Agriculture Commissioner, Insurance Commissioner, SD18, SD29, SD43, SD46, SD52, HD12, HD20, HD43, HD99, HD102 | MS SoS | Cotton Mouth |
| New Jersey | 8pm EST | SD01, SD02, SD08, SD12, SD39, HD01 (x2), HD02 (x2), HD08 (x2), HD11 (x2), HD12 (x2), HD14 (x2), HD39 (x2) | NJ.com | Blue Jersey |
| Ohio | 7:30pm EST | OH-05 Special Primary | OH SoS | BSB | ODB |
| Virginia | 7pm EST | SD01, SD06, SD22, SD27, SD28, SD33, SD34, SD37, SD39, HD32, HD33, HD34, HD40, HD50, HD51, HD52, HD67, HD83, HD86 | VA SBE | Raising Kaine |
Special thanks to The Green Papers, which was the source for several of the poll closing times. One note: the New Jersey state House races are listed slightly oddly, as each numerical district actually has two seats up for grabs.
If you have any races happening in your area that aren’t on this list, let us know in the comments. And if you’d like to give any predictions for any of today’s contests, now is the time to share them. How many counties will Ernie Fletcher win in Kentucky? Will Bob Latta prevail in Ohio? How far will Virginia Democrats go?
Other useful links: PoliticsNJ’s race ratings | WaPo’s key Virginia races
Jeff Coryell of the OhioDailyBlog will be live blogging the election in OH-05. Jeff will be in the district posting updates and interviews throughout the day. Hopefully, he’ll be able to post some video reports(!)
Jerid Kurtz of BuckeyeSateBlog will be in Columbus focusing the Columbus mayoral and council races and other important races from around the state, such as the Canton mayoral race.
Republicans have controlled county commission for last 140 years, 80 years longer than the Democrats have controlled nearby Philadelphia. Voter registration gap betw Ds and Rs has been narrowing for several years. County votes D in presidential elections, and for Gov. Rendell and Sen. Bob Casey (vanquisher of the extremist Rick Santorum, who lives in Virginia). It all comes down to turnout -the Ds may be able to do it today and we have two quality candidates for county commissioner.
Also, today’s election will decide whether the Ds or Rs from the Santorum wing of the Republican party control a majority of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. If voters aree lazy and stay home, the Rs will win.
in HD-21, Democrat Bobby Mathieson is in a tight race against incumbent John Welch.
I just went and cast my Democratic ballot on this cold, blustery day in central Indiana. So far things seem to be going smoothly here, unlike the last several elections, where there were ballot shortages, polls that had no workers to open them, etc. The mayor’s race should be close, but I’m cautiously optimistic that the last minute slew of TV ads (you couldn’t turn on the TV here over the weekend without seeing a Bart Peterson ad) will carry the mayor over the finish line.
On a somewhat related note, continuing my ongoing “Julia watch,” something potentially significant happened yesterday. Congresswoman Carson gave a radio interview where she refused to say whether she’s running for another term next fall. This is a backing off of her pledge a couple of months ago that she was running. So HOPEFULLY she’s hearing the growing chorus of voices saying “Thank you for your 30+ years of public service, but take your bows and exit stage left!”
Mayoral and other local elections are taking place today in Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, Danbury, Waterbury, and towns and cities across Connecticut (including a race in Milford, CT where Lieberman is backing the GOP incumbent.)
Also of note, this is the first year where the old mechanical voting machines are being replaced by optical scan machines statewide.
My Left Nutmeg and Connecticut Local Politics are covering the day, polls close at 8pm ET.
It’s mostly local elections- Houston has city elections where Democratic Senate candidate Rick Noriega’s wife is running for re-election to the City Council, where she won Shelly “Drakula C*nt” Gibbs’ seat earlier this year in a special election.
We also have 16 statewide constitutional amendments up for ballot today. Results will be posted at the Sec. of State site here.
The last ditch electoral strategy of the dying Republican administration is now apparent. The secret weapon of the Kentucky Republican party is none other than singer/entertainer Pat Boone! The Kentucky state GOP is robo-calling voters with a plea from Pat Boone warning Kentucky voter that Democrat Steve Beshear backs “every homosexual cause”.
It apparently is standard operating procedure in Kentucky to throw the gay bomb at Democrats during the closing moments of campaigns given the GOP did something similar to Daniel Monginardo when he ran against Mitch McConnell during his last re-election.
Here is a link to blog about this story:
http://www.alternet….
This just reminded me *I* have to vote today. LOL I got too wrapped up in other places elections, sure its just school boards and college boards, but voting is voting. lol It’ll fill my need until California has its primary! woo!
The first results are beginning to trickle in, it’s pretty safe to predict victory for Beshear & Mongiardo, Luallen, and Farmer. It’s the other three races that may be hard to predict. I predict a sweep, but the Secretary of State race will be terribly close.
the Utah legislature passed a universal school voucher bill, a referendum movement gathered enough signatures to put it on the ballot today. Polls close at 10 EST and results will be here http://electionresul… (oh and for keeps the law on the books, against removes it).