Photoshop Finish
4:03 AM
by Nick Stone of Drawnlines Politics.
Those who count the votes decide everything. In New Jersey, Democracy always has a big "D". Democratic operatives there haven't even waited to open the polls to beginstealing winning the governor race.
For perspective on Tuesday's result, let's look back to 1981. A year after Reagan's sweeping election, Democrat Jim Florio and Republican Tom Kean closed election night with a photo finish. After weeks of ballot counting, Kean edged out Florio by a mere 1,797 votes out of 2.29 million cast. Flash forward to 2009 and repeat.
One year from President Obama's electoral (but not really popular) sweep over John McCain, the Democrats find themselves up against the ropes. The tide appears to have shifted as GOP and Dems find themselves in a statistical dead heat in generic balloting. Gone are the days where the blue team had the clout to eek out unlikely victories like those of Al Franken (MN), Scott Murphy (NY-20), and Mark Begich (AK).
Already, NRO reports that 2,300 early ballots have mismatched signatures between the request form and the actual ballot. WSJ's Mark Fund says it's probably closer to 3,000. ACORN, the Working Families Party, and SEIU are heavily (and quietly) mobilized to get "voters" to the polls for Corzine. A law that this governor signed relaxes the restrictions to mail-in ballots, and includes a "messenger provision" which allows someone else to deliver your ballot for you. Fairleigh Dickinson University reports that their polling suggests a 2 to 1 mail-in ballot advantage for Corzine. The Democratic Party of NJ has formally and specifically asked the Secretary of State not to reject ballots based on signature disparity, though the request has not been made in previous elections. To top it off, 14 indictments were handed down following absentee ballot fraud in the June primary election. The evidence points to possible fraud.
In one of the most notably corrupt states in the union, it's no small wonder that the issue of absentee ballot fraud has bubbled to the surface before the polling places even open their doors. To rectify any problem, the Secretary of State has been advised to distribute provisional ballots for signatures in question. These same types of ballots were used in 2008 to double count votes in heavily Democratic districts for Al Franken. When challenged, the heavily Democratic canvassing board and courts dismissed Norm Coleman's concerns. The double votes wiped out Coleman's lead from election night, and Franken was certified the winner. Imagine that.
Turnout in off-year elections is notoriously low. This year with some 180,000 absentee ballot requests and an extremely tight race, anything can happen. A recount is highly likely no matter who is ahead at the end of polling tomorrow. Don't be surprised if in the wee hours of the morning there is still no governor-elect of New Jersey. To those considering laziness or indecisiveness tomorrow, beware. This one matters.
There's ALWAYS something new happening at Drawnlines Politics.
For videos and archives visit our homepage
Links to source material are available at our new Election Center!
Those who count the votes decide everything. In New Jersey, Democracy always has a big "D". Democratic operatives there haven't even waited to open the polls to begin
For perspective on Tuesday's result, let's look back to 1981. A year after Reagan's sweeping election, Democrat Jim Florio and Republican Tom Kean closed election night with a photo finish. After weeks of ballot counting, Kean edged out Florio by a mere 1,797 votes out of 2.29 million cast. Flash forward to 2009 and repeat.
One year from President Obama's electoral (but not really popular) sweep over John McCain, the Democrats find themselves up against the ropes. The tide appears to have shifted as GOP and Dems find themselves in a statistical dead heat in generic balloting. Gone are the days where the blue team had the clout to eek out unlikely victories like those of Al Franken (MN), Scott Murphy (NY-20), and Mark Begich (AK).
Already, NRO reports that 2,300 early ballots have mismatched signatures between the request form and the actual ballot. WSJ's Mark Fund says it's probably closer to 3,000. ACORN, the Working Families Party, and SEIU are heavily (and quietly) mobilized to get "voters" to the polls for Corzine. A law that this governor signed relaxes the restrictions to mail-in ballots, and includes a "messenger provision" which allows someone else to deliver your ballot for you. Fairleigh Dickinson University reports that their polling suggests a 2 to 1 mail-in ballot advantage for Corzine. The Democratic Party of NJ has formally and specifically asked the Secretary of State not to reject ballots based on signature disparity, though the request has not been made in previous elections. To top it off, 14 indictments were handed down following absentee ballot fraud in the June primary election. The evidence points to possible fraud.
In one of the most notably corrupt states in the union, it's no small wonder that the issue of absentee ballot fraud has bubbled to the surface before the polling places even open their doors. To rectify any problem, the Secretary of State has been advised to distribute provisional ballots for signatures in question. These same types of ballots were used in 2008 to double count votes in heavily Democratic districts for Al Franken. When challenged, the heavily Democratic canvassing board and courts dismissed Norm Coleman's concerns. The double votes wiped out Coleman's lead from election night, and Franken was certified the winner. Imagine that.
Turnout in off-year elections is notoriously low. This year with some 180,000 absentee ballot requests and an extremely tight race, anything can happen. A recount is highly likely no matter who is ahead at the end of polling tomorrow. Don't be surprised if in the wee hours of the morning there is still no governor-elect of New Jersey. To those considering laziness or indecisiveness tomorrow, beware. This one matters.
There's ALWAYS something new happening at Drawnlines Politics.
For videos and archives visit our homepage
Links to source material are available at our new Election Center!
Posted by Nick Stone
on 4:03 AM.
Filed under
.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0
Posts
