Democracy Delayed in Kilroy versus Pryce Outcome
| Candidate | Votes Tallied |
| Pryce (R) | 101,636 votes |
| Kilroy (D) | 98,100 votes |
| Total | 199,736 votes |
These figures give Pryce a 3,536 vote lead.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, the preceding figures do not, however, include 9,137 absentee ballots, 9,469 provisional ballots, and some part of 918 absentee and provisional ballots from two counties partly in the 15th District. Taken all together, this means more than 10,382 votes have not been counted in the Pryce-Kilroy election.
The Kilroy campaign believes that a significant number of those absentee and provisional ballots were cast in her favor, a position supported by somewhat more objective analysis.
First, ballots designated provisional are often the result of some problem the voter had in establishing his or her right to vote, a problem more likely to have been experienced by lower income, non-White, and other individuals who traditionally favor Democratic candidates.
Second, an indeterminate but probably large percentage of the absentee ballots were cast by those who believed that, by voting in such a way as to avoid the electronic voting machines, their votes would not be subject to the manipulation many Democrats believe have caused recent elections to go to Republicans. In other words, many if not most absentee ballots could very well have been cast by Democrats trying to ensure that their votes would be counted.
Deborah Pryce, fourth highest in the Republican hierarchy in the House of Representatives, has long been the incumbent in the 15th District of Ohio, in no small part because of the favor she enjoys among Right-wing and conservative individuals and families that for decades have controlled political power in the state capitol of Columbus. Called by the Kilroy campaign a "rubber stamp" for President Bush's policies, Pryce would be an expected casualty of the shift in voter sentiment away from policies of the Bush Administration. The tone of her campaign bordered at times on the strident: in her final debate with Kilroy, Rep. Pryce at one point declared her willingness or desire to continue the debate "outside," as if she were challenging Ms. Kilroy in a barroom confrontation. In that same debate, Kilroy accused Pryce of being "wrong on the defining issues of our time."
The official vote count is supposed to begin on November 18, but Ohio elections chief John Damschroder, a Republican, has postponed the start of the count for one day, conceding that the delay is due in part to the upcoming Ohio State football game against its long-time gridiron rival, Michigan. Damschroder claims that, although this all-important game was a factor in postponing the determination of who actually won the race in the 15th District, 'worker fatigue' was the deciding factor. He did not, however, explain why Board of Elections workers in Franklin Country were more fatigued than those in the many thousands of other places in the United States where official counts have not been delayed.
At this time, a winner in the 15th District cannot be projected, although it is very likely that Democratic challenger Mary Jo Kilroy will prevail, provided irregularities that plagued previous elections in Franklin Country don't resurface, and provided the vote counters are not even further fatigued by the physically and emotionally draining experience of watching the Ohio State/Michigan football game.
The Dark Wraith Forums will provide updates to this article as important information becomes available, herewith noting for the record that the football game between OSU and Michigan is not even in the same universe with "important information."
Published 11/10/2006 06:15:00 PM
<< 11 Comments Total
"...the football game between OSU and Michigan is not even in the same universe with "important information."
Do I presume correctly the Iowa vs. Minnesota game on the same day does not qualify either? If so, I will try to notify the local piece of shi..., uh, er, the local newspaper to try and cover the important news that day.
A total of 17,766 absentee ballots that were returned Monday and Tuesday will remain uncounted until after the OSU-Michigan game, Damschroder said,....Of that total, 9,137 were cast by residents of the congressional district in which Kilroy and Pryce competed.
Good grief, that means my ballot wasn't counted yet.
(That's what I get for always letting these things go until the last day...So much last minute canvassing, so little time.)
DW,
Anything come of that little old investigation with Fitz somebody about Scooter somebody and Karl and Dick somebody?
And that other one about that prison thing in Iraq that Bush was having looked into?
And where do I send the checks to pay for them?
Good morning, Father Tyme.
You probably recall that I ripped Fitzgerald up and down on more than one occasion for what I knew very well was going to be a whitewash, which it was, and which it will be when Libby's so-called trial begins in January, a trial I strongly suspect will be truncated by a Presidential pardon for loyal-boy Scooter.
That will, of course, free Mr. Fitzgerald's time so he can pursue bigger fish, which will entail a rather ugly explosion of corruption charges against a handful of Democrats within the next 18 months.
Don't believe me? Wait and see.
My batting average is pretty darned good these days.
The Dark Wraith couldn't resist pointing that out.
DW,
Of course I believe you.
As for that batting average...must be them damn steroids!
Good morning, LindiBee.
I take it you were one of those Democrats I described, the ones who voted by absentee ballot out of concern about the voting machines.
That's what I was talking about. The Republicans running the Board of Elections (oh, yes, I forgot: it's 'non-partisan') can dismiss lots and lots of the provisional ballots on technicalities, but they'll have a harder time dispensing with the absentee ballots unless they want to try some shenanigans with the legal dispute over that new Ohio voter ID law and how it applies to absentee ballots. I wouldn't put it past them: they could get rid of at least some of the absentee ballots that way by claiming they were filed improperly based upon the stay by the 6th Circuit Court of the TRO the District Judge had imposed on application of the law to absentee ballots.
It's complicated, but I can assure you that the Franklin County, Ohio, Republicans are not going to go gentle into that good night. If Pryce loses, the families that still think Columbus is their little kingdom are going to have to spend a lot of money over the next couple of years to destroy Kilroy like they did the last Democrat who won a congressional seat there some years ago.
Lordie! but I love politics.
And I love it even more when I get to watch local power brokers have to stir from their fossilized states to try to thwart the will of the people.
The Dark Wraith is still in such a good mood that it's starting to worry people around him.
Good morning, Peter of Lone Tree.
The Iowa versus Minnesota game also does not qualify as important news, but I can assure you as a former long-time resident of the area around the campus of The Ohio State University that just about nothing compares to how important the Buckeye fans think their game against Michigan is.
The stories I could tell would make your hair stand up. I've described some of those nights after the Big Game to people, and they've looked at me like I was describing anarchy in a Third World country. Some years, it was just beyond belief. I literally cowered in my rooming house as roving mobs of insane, drunk, violent students (and huge numbers of non-students who just came into town to join in the madness) roamed the streets, all while violent hordes of Columbus Police thugs roamed the streets, too.
Dear God, it was simply amazing: overturned cars burning; young men and women by the thousands raging, barfing, tearing up; night sticks and occasional tear gas; block after block of people compressed nut-to-butt trying to walk.
Total madness.
The Dark Wraith strives for considerably quieter locales, these days.
Good Morning Dark Wraith:
There was a little nugget of good news on the Hayworth/Mitchell count yesterday. One of the things j.d. was relying on was the usual heavy slant of absentee voting toward the republican end. this coming from a large military and retiree population that can either only vote absentee or finds it far more convenient to do so.
this time it's different, in a big way too. the military count is coming in 65% for mitchell. they are telling j.d. in a resounding way that it takes way more than a bad haircut to make a marine.
i couldn't stifle a big "Hoo-rah!" when i read that. it startled the dogs.
DW,
If you get the time:
Just exactly what does the 'World Bank' do?
Who is a 'member'; China, Iran, etc.?
How much power have they over whom?
Are there many U.S. private businesses in it like Halliburton, Carlyle Group, etc.?
And who runs it and how are they appointed?
All I can say is HFS, DW. A football game is more important than counting election ballots. WTF kind of pussies work in the election board there?
Go and Kick some ass!
Three comments --
(1) The last Democrat who won a seat in Columbus was Bob Shamansky, back in 1980. That lasted until 1982, when Republican John Kasich beat him. After Kasich retired for his Fox News show, Republican Pat Tiberi was chosen as his successor, and still holds the seat. In fact, he just beat Democratic challenger Bob Shamansky (yes, the same Bob Shamansky) by, unfortunately, a fairly wide margin.
(2) At least everybody will be in a good mood at the Franklin County Board of Elections since Ohio State beat Michigan.
(3) The November, 2006 election gave all three seats on the Franklin County Commission to Democrats. Undoubtedly, control of the Franklin County Board of Elections will eventually swing to the Democrats as a result.