Let me tell ya something: the Ohio Electoral college vote (20) and one or maybe even two of the U.S. House races might NOT be decided on Tuesday.
They will be so close that it will go the provisional ballots which will not be counted for two weeks.
You cannot believe how close the race is here… AGAIN.
Good things to know: In 2006, Governor Ted Strickland carried many, MANY precincts AND counties (ours, for example) that had been controlled by the GOP for 12 years. Under our screwy election laws, this means that we now control the deciding votes of all of those precinct poll workers and county boards of election. (Half Dems, half GOP, tie breaker to us.)
Because we now control the “presiding Judge” in all of the precincts that Ted carried, many people might get to vote OR might avoid being forced to vote a provisional ballot, who in the past, might have been hassled.
The big problem here has been that FAR too many people were discouraged from voting on Election Day OR were unnecessarily forced to vote with a provo ballot. Having Democrats making the deciding “on the spot” judgment, might reduce both of those problems.
HOWEVER, on the other hand, this election will attract MANY more would be voters than usual, and many of them are those who will run afoul of our idiotic GOP mandated I.D. and proof of residency rules.
If the outcome of the Ohio Electoral college vote is in doubt (or any U.S. House races) expect billable hours for GOP lawyers to be in the millions.
This is the first presidential election under Ohio’s new “no excuse needed” early and absentee ballot law. Early turnout has been steady. There was excellent turnout during our one week window in October when you could both register and vote on one trip to the board of elections. Then as the election has gotten closer, there have been mounting numbers of early voters.
In addition, we have a GREAT Democrat as Secretary of State. The GOP has filed a slew of court actions to try and manipulate the election, but they have LOST every time. So, in the end the forces of Truth and Goodness will prevail.
But it won’t be Tuesday night.
Which means, we might not have a decision on the Presidency OR the U.S. House for weeks, maybe more.
But having Judge Brunner in control of our state voting apparatus is a Good Thing. Her solid competence has stopped the GOP vote suppression effort, in it’s tracks, again and again.