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art_director · Nov 8, 2006, 12:37 PM

Now that Montana has gone to the Dems, Virgina becomes the new Florida. Any predictions?

Zeeb · Nov 8, 2006, 12:47 PM

I predict that I'll be a nervous wreck until the outcome.

turtle777 · Nov 8, 2006, 12:48 PM

Recount until mid of Dec. Just great.

-t

finboy · Nov 8, 2006, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by art_director

Now that Montana has gone to the Dems, Virgina becomes the new Florida. Any predictions?

I predict a lot of attorneys, and a lot of questions about dead folks and college students voting. Again. I predict that the Allen people will have a pretty good arsenal of accusations -- all they have to do is look at the Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004 playbook. Oh, and Philly. And Baltimore. And DC. Should be a fun two or three months.

subego · Nov 8, 2006, 09:51 PM

The A.P. called it for Webb.

Dork. · Nov 8, 2006, 10:03 PM

The interesting thing is that Virginia has a lot of those fancy new voting machines. A recount consists of making the machine print out the results again and going "Yup, that's what it told us the last time". So the playbook is slightly different this time.

hyteckit · Nov 8, 2006, 10:04 PM

How do you recount electronic votes with no paper trail?

Dork. · Nov 8, 2006, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by hyteckit

How do you recount electronic votes with no paper trail?

You don't really recount those, you just look at the number and note that it was the same as the last time you looked at it. But not all of the state uses those, some parts use the optical-scan ballots, so there will be something for election officials to do once a recount is called for.

From http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/us...9virginia.html

Many experts have long feared that such a recount would expose poor record-keeping and accountability in electronic balloting systems. Like many other states, Virginia has adopted a range of new voting systems, some with optical scanners, but others paperless.

A recount, with Senate control hanging on just one race, could push the contest here into all but uncharted legal territory: What would a recount really mean in jurisdictions where there is no paper trail and where the actual number of eligible provisional ballots is in flux?

The experts say the current predicament is illustrative of the pitfalls of voting in a post-paper era, after a broad overhaul meant to avoid a repetition of the hanging-chads controversy of 2000.

“A recount with these machines,” one electronic-voting expert, Avi Rubin, said of the paperless systems, “essentially involves an election official hitting the reprint button and then saying, ‘Oh, the results are the same that we already printed — all fine here.’ This tells us nothing about whether we have the correct tally. Garbage in, garbage out.”

badidea · Nov 9, 2006, 03:03 AM

I predict that Webb gets 7236 more votes than Allen!

No recount because Allen will be a great loser! (<- that's meant possitive)

Dakar² · Nov 9, 2006, 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by badidea

No recount because Allen will be a great loser! (<- that's meant possitive)

See this I'm not sure I agree with. If at any time the vote differential is low enough that a recount could swing the election the recount should be automatic.

Nicko · Nov 9, 2006, 07:37 AM

NBC television and the Associated Press reported that Democrat James Webb defeated Republican Sen. George Allen in the closely contested Virginia Senate race.

The Democrats had already won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in Tuesday's elections. Webb's seat was the sixth pickup Democrats needed for a majority in the 100-seat Senate.

Webb led Allen by about 7,000 votes out of 2.3 million cast. The final vote count could take a week, with a winner certified on Nov. 27. Any recount could stretch into December.

Allen's camp has refused to concede defeat, with adviser Ed Gillespie telling reporters in Richmond, Virginia, earlier on Wednesday, "We'll see where the official tally stands on November 27 and we'll come back and visit with you then."

ie. Its going to be a while

Dork. · Nov 9, 2006, 07:50 AM

From what I've read, Allen's camp is going to get a hard look at the election data, and whether or not a recount can realistically result in finding enough votes that weren't counted originally to put them over the top. If they don't think they have the votes, they will concede soon.

davesimondotcom · Nov 9, 2006, 10:00 AM

I predict that George Allen will blame his loss on all those damn n-----s.*

*The above is meant as humor only, and never would I encourage the use of the "n" word. And I also don't believe George Allen is a racist.

Nicko · Nov 9, 2006, 02:38 PM

November 9, 2006
Allen Concedes in Virginia Senate Race; Democrats Win Full Control of Congress
By CHRISTINE HAUSER

Senator George Allen of Virginia conceded today that he lost his re-election race to the Democratic challenger, Jim Webb, ending the last undecided Senate contest and giving Democrats control of the full Congress for the first time in a dozen years.

“They have spoken,” said Mr. Allen, referring to the people of Virginia and calling them the owners of the government. “And I respect their decision.” He said he had called Mr. Webb and congratulated him.

Mr. Webb was ahead by about 8,700 votes, according to the state elections board, several hours before Mr. Allen gave his statement.

Mr. Allen said he would not exercise the legal right to ask for a recount. “It is with deep respect for the people of Virginia,” he said, “that I do not wish to cause more rancor by protracted litigation which would in my judgment not alter the results.”

Mr. Webb had already claimed victory in the race after Tuesday’s voting, when Virginia and Montana emerged as pivotal focal points because their Senate races remained undecided. Jon Tester, the Democratic challenger, won the race in Montana and the Republican incumbent, Conrad Burns, conceded today.

”I stand ready to help as Montana transitions to a new United States Senator,” Mr. Burns said in a statement. “We fought the good fight and we came up just a bit short. We’ve had a good 18 years and I am proud of my record.”

Virginia officials said today that they were continuing to canvass in several districts as part of the formal certification process in the closely watched contest. They also started to count provisional ballots cast by voters whose eligibility to vote could not be confirmed at the polling places.

Democrats, ecstatic at the prospect that they might have swept both houses of Congress, did not wait yesterday for final word from Virginia.

“It is virtually 100 percent that Webb is going to win the race,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, who led the Democratic effort to take back the Senate. “I think you can say without any hesitancy or doubt that Democrats are going to be the majority party in the Senate.”

Mr. Webb began planning his transition, and aides to Mr. Allen had suggested yesterday that he could acknowledge defeat as early as this afternoon.

Mr. Webb, taking a page from the Republican playbook in the contested presidential vote count in Florida in 2000, tried to cast his victory as inevitable. But Mr. Allen’s advisers yesterday held out the possibility of a recount.

Aides to Mr. Webb began referring to him as Virginia’s senator-elect, and this afternoon he issued a news release naming three members of his transition team.

Democratic Party officials and some news organizations, including MSNBC and The Associated Press, declared Mr. Webb the winner of the election Wednesday.

The concession by Mr. Allen ended a rough campaign marked by accusations of racism against him and sexism against Mr. Webb in a contest that alienated many voters, particularly women, and has apparently left the senator’s once-promising political career in tatters.

John M. Broder contributed reporting from Washington; Jim Robbins contributed from Helena, Montana; Jeff Zeleny from New York and Abby Goodnough from Sarasota, Fla.
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Uh, circle is complete?