By: E&P Staff
As is customary here at E&P Online (well, we did it once before), we will be providing quick hits all day on Election Day voting problems and dirty tricks, local coverage, blazing controversy and pundit commentary. Check back often with us today for new items.
Stories will be updated from the top, with most recent addition first.***
1:20 AM ET
And finally, folks:
After the networks had suggested for hours that it looked like the Dems would not carry the Senate, suddenly Webb overtakes Allen slightly in Virginia (recount to follow) and the Missouri race switches to the Dems, too. Conrad "Mr." Burns seems to going down in Montana, so Dem takeover seems plausible.
Meanwhile, Dems seems poised to take 30 to 40 seats in the House, with one of the most stunning wins, ex-Orleans rock star John Hall, in New York.
Guess the Saddam guility verdict didn't turn things around after all.
On Fox, Rich Lowry of the National Review said that President Bush should respond to this tidal wave of opposition to his Iraq policies by sending MORE troops to Iraq, and cutting a deal with the Democrats on something else. And that about says it all.
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11:20 PM ET
Democrats may not take the Senate but the House looks secure. On a special live Comedy Central report on today's elections, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show said, first, of the Demcoratic gains, "I don't know what it means either," but then explained that it will lead to the Dems gaining "access to political power and perversion."
Looking at one key loss for the GOP, he said: "Rick Santorum has been raptured to a better place."
Commenting on some other races decided, he said that with Bernie Sanders winning in Vermont, the state went from having an Independent to a Socialist, and thus "now it is even less relevant. Congratulations!"
He called Katharine Harris's defeat in Forida "deflating" (as a graphic showed her breasts shrinking). He said the state had lost "two flotation devices"
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10:00 PM ET
Democratic trend continues, with another Senate pickup -- Rhode Island -- and a hold in Maryland.
Webb trails Allen in Virginia but it may be headed to a recount.
Yet the world awaits Dan Rather with Jon and Stephen. Will they be "tight as a tick"?
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9:20 PM ET
The Democrats have won the first three key Senate contests, in New Jersey and two switches in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Republicans may be on the way to a win in Tennessee, and Virginia appears knotted.
Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews just had a big smackdown on MSNBC, after Chris suggested that Joe was biased toward the Republicans. Joe said he has lately hit the GOP harder than the Dems on TV and in columns. Chris said, huh, you just called Hillary Clinton a lefty. Joe admitted that he misspoke--he meant Barbara Boxer. Chris said, okay, you are a maverick. Someone off-camera then interjected, "Now, back to our regularly scheduled... election."
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8:20 PM ET
Networks being very cautious in calling races. Many polls closed but few races being settled, despite large vote counts in some places. So it should be a long night.
Cleveland polls staying open an extra hour due to problems there.
Wolf Blitzer making Chris Matthews seem under-amped.
Exit polls show 60% want some or all troops pulled out of Iraq ASAP.
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7:15 PM ET, first races called on TV.
This doesn't happen every day: a socialist in the Senate! OF course, it's Rep. Bernie Sanders moving over to the big House, from Vermont.
More exit polls seem to suggest a lot of anger over Iraq, but networks are not really describing them, as related to specific races.
Meanwhile, much more reporting of problems at the polls, threatened lawsuits and the like.
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6:20 PM ET, first exit polls released (buyer beware, based on 2004):
They show Dems leading nearly all of the key Senate races, though trailing in Tennessee. Numbers show wide margin for Dem candidate in Ohio and Pennsylvania, very narrow in Missouri, and 5% to 7% everywhere else. If this somehow holds up, then they will indeed take the Senate.
Meanwhile, ABC News reports that its exit polls -- in a "preliminary" finding -- find high disdain for Bush. Six in 10 voice disapproval, with two-thirds of that number "strongly" opposed.
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5:55 PM ET, a press release:
"MoveOn.org Political Action is offering a $250,000 reward for new material evidence leading to a felony conviction for an organized effort of partisan voter suppression or electronic voting fraud.
"Throughout the day accusations of election fraud and voter suppression incidents have been flooding into state and federal authorities throughout the country. In Virginia, the FBI has launched a criminal investigation into charges of voter suppression. In 20 Congressional districts, NRCC robocalls appearing to come from Democrats harassed voters with repeated calls in an apparently coordinated campaign to suppress the vote.
"Complementing an earlier reward for whistleblowers, MoveOn's reward is being offered to anyone who provides this information."
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Turnout for Virginia Senate Race Could Be Double That of '024:40 PM ET, from the AP:
"Final independent polls in a Virginia race that could determine whether Republicans keep control of the U.S. Senate showed the two candidates were about even.
"Reports from around Virginia early Tuesday indicated an extraordinarily high turnout for a midterm election, with perhaps 65 percent of registered voters expected to cast ballots, state elections officials said. That would double the midterm turnout in 2002."
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Democrats in Tennessee Petition for Extended Voting Hours After Problems4:35 PM ET, from The Tennessean:
"Lawyers with the Tennessee Democratic Party will file suit early this afternoon asking that voting hours be extended due to reports of infrastructure problems, a party spokesman said.
"The party has received reports that some precincts lacked enough voting machines, voting machines that are not working, long lines and delays in the openings of polling paces, said the spokesman Mark Brown."
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Dispute Over Faulty Indiana Voting Machines Heads to Court3:55 PM ET, from The Indianapolis Star:
"State Democrats are asking that voters taking advantage of longer polling hours in Delaware County be allowed to cast regular ballots, not provisional ballots.
Chairman Dan Parker of the Indiana Democratic Party responded today after a judge ordered that Delaware County polls stay open until 8:40 p.m. because of technical problems this morning that resulted in delayed openings.
The Republican attorney for the Indiana Election Division has argued that voters in Delaware County must use provisional ballots after the polls close. Provisional ballots are not initially factored into vote totals. They are typically set aside and counted later if necessary."
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N.J. Sen. Menendez Accused of Padlocking Opponent's Campaign HQ3:45 PM ET, from CNN (via You Tube):
In a
video clip the campaign of Republican Tom Kean accused staffers from the camp of incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) of chaining and padlocking Kean campaign headquarters.
The Menendez camp has denied the charges, and calling the accusation "the biggest stunt since Britney Spears' 3 a.m. Las Vegas wedding."
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Homeless From Pennsylvania Recruited by Campaign to Hand Out Incorrect Sample Ballots -- in Maryland3:35 PM ET, from The Washington Post:
"Inaccurate sample ballots describing Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele as Democrats were handed out to voters in at least four polling sites in Prince George's County this morning. The ballots were handed out by people who said they arrived by buses this morning from Pennsylvania and Delaware.
"Erik Markle, one of the people handing out literature for Ehrlich, who is seeking reelection, and Steele, the current lieutenant governor who is campaigning to replace retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D), said he was recruited at a homeless shelter in Philadelphia.
"After a two-hour bus ride to Maryland, Markle said the workers were greeted early this morning by first lady Kendel Ehrlich, who thanked them as they were outfitted in T-shirts and hats with the logo for Ehrlich's reelection campaign. Nearly all of those recruited, Markle said, are poor and black. Workers traveled to Maryland in at least seven large buses."
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Pennsylvania Voter Smashes Touch-Screen Machine2:45 PM ET, from the Morning Call of Allentown, Pa.:
"A man entered an Allentown polling site, signed in and proceeded to smash one of the electronic voting machines with a metal cat paperweight, poll volunteers said.
"Michael Young, 43, will be charged with felony criminal mischief and tampering with voting machines, according to Ronald Manescu, chief of investigations for Allentown police. Police gave no motive, but a source said Young, a registered Independent, believed Republicans had conspired to win the election by using electronic ballots."
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S.C. Governor Turned Away at the Polls2:35 PM ET, from the AP:
"Gov. Mark Sanford had to make a second trip to his Sullivans Island precinct before he could cast a ballot this morning. The Republican forgot his voter identification card the first time, and poll workers turned him away when he showed a driver's license with a Columbia address.
"Poll Manager Bob Crawford at the Sullivans Island Elementary School says first lady Jenny Sanford was allowed to vote but the governor had to come back.
"Sanford came back about 90 minutes later and cast his ballot."
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Poll Worker Charged With Assaulting Voter in Kentucky1:55 PM ET, from the Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky.:
"A poll worker at the United Auto Workers hall on Fern Valley Road was arrested after he was accused of assaulting a voter, said Lt. Col. Carl Yates, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriffs' Office.
"The worker, whose name has not been released, has been charged with interfering with an election and fourth-degree assault, said Yates, who had not other details.
"Paula McCraney, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Clerk, said the poll worker was accused of choking and pushing the voter out of the door. Election officials called the police and when an officer arrived, the voter wanted to file charges, McCraney said."
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FBI Investigating Voter Intimidation Charges in Virginia1:20 PM ET, from MSNBC.com:
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the possibility of voter intimidation in the hard-fought U.S. Senate race between Sen. George Allen, a Republican, and Democratic challenger James Webb, officials told NBC News.
"State officials alerted the Justice Department on Tuesday to several complaints of suspicious phone calls to voters who attempted to misdirect or confuse them about election day, Jean Jensen, Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections, told NBC?s David Shuster. Jensen told NBC that she had been contacted by FBI agents. The FBI in Richmond refused to comment."
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Bomb Threat Interrupts Voting in Wisconsin1:00 PM ET, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A bomb threat was made at a polling location at Madison East High School in Madison, Wisc., reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's political blog, All Politics Watch.
Voting was interrupted by the threat around 11:40 a.m. CSDT. Poll workers sealed ballots that had already been cast and a search is currently being conducted by Madison city officials. If the search delays voting for more than an hour, said the Elections Board Executive Director Kevin Kennedy, the polling place will be relocated.
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Teenagers in Charge of Voting Machines?12:50 PM ET, from Brad Blog:
"This just in from poll worker Patti Newton from San Diego, where Registrar Mikel Haas has been sending all of their pre-programmed, election-ready, hackable Diebold touch-screen systems home with poll workers on 'sleepovers' since Oct. 16th.
"Newton reports the machines have been going to high-school kids who have also been recruited to be in charge of those machines [today]."
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No Joke: Rather On Comedy Central12:50 PM ET, from The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Dan Rather will analyze election results with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert tonight at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central's live, hour-long Indecision 2006 special.
"It's a risk, I guess, but what the hell," says Rather, who covered every national election since 1962 for CBS before being drop-kicked in June. Now he's global correspondent for Mark Cuban's HDNet. "J. Stewart and company offered the chance, and I've taken it," Rather, 75, says. "I don't do comedy, I do politics, which sometimes is one and the same."
Click
here to watch a Wall Street Journal video interview with Rather about the election.
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Confusion Over Voter IDs in Georgia12:30 PM ET, from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
"The legal maneuvering in recent weeks over Georgia?s efforts to require voters to produce a photo ID caused some confusion at the polls Tuesday morning.
"Responses to an AJC website asking about voting problems indicate some people thought recent court orders that a picture ID was not needed for today?s election meant no identification was required."
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Voting Machine Problems in Three More States11:55 AM ET, from the AP:
"Voting machines began wreaking havoc the minute the polls opened Tuesday, delaying voters in dozens of Indiana and Ohio precincts and leaving some in Florida with little choice but turn to paper ballots instead.
"In Cleveland, voters rolled their eyes as election workers fumbled with new voting machines that they couldn't get to start properly. 'We got five machines -- one of them's got to work,' said Willette Scullank, a trouble shooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board."
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Congressman Shows up to Vote With Improper ID11:50 AM ET, from the Cincinnati Enquirer's politics blog:
"Congressman Steve Chabot found out just how serious elections officials are about the new voter ID law when he showed up to vote at his polling place in Westwood.
Chabot went into the polling place at Westwood First Presbyterian Church about 9:30 a.m. and pulled out his Ohio driver?s license to show the poll workers. They looked at his license, and told the congressman that, even though they know perfectly well who he is, his driver?s license was issued to his business office, not his home, which is his voting address.
Somewhat sheepishly, Chabot went back out into the parking lot, jumped in his 1993 Buick -- the one he talked about on his campaign commercials -- and drove back to his home a few blocks away to find a proper ID.
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More Voters Than People in Utah County11:50 AM ET, from the AP:
"Folks love voting in Daggett County [Utah]. Even when they may not live there. Daggett County registered 947 voters for Tuesday's election ? four more than the county's population in 2005, according to the most recent Census figures.
"Now, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's office is looking into complaints of vote-stuffing in the county, spokesman Paul Murphy said."
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Extended Hours After Voting Machine Problems in Delaware?11:45 AM ET, from The Star-Press in Muncie, Ind.:
"A court hearing has been scheduled this morning to consider extending voting hours, perhaps by as much as 2 1/2 hours, Virtually all Delaware County precincts reportedly experienced problems with voting machines this morning. But an officials with the Delaware County Clerks office said all machines are currently working and precincts are open.
"The problems were caused by the voting cards that are used to bring up the ballots on the electronic touch screen voting machines. The machines were used for the first time in the primary and this is the first general election for them to be used in Delaware County."
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