J. Gerald Hebert has this essay on the Campaign Legal Center webpage, describing how Texas injured itself when it redrew its U.S. House district boundaries in 2003, undoing the boundaries of 2001. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
4
The chart at the top of this blog has updated vote totals on November 25, (compared to November 23) for Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, and Cynthia McKinney. The changes are caused more votes having been counted in California; and North Carolina’s release of write-in totals. Chuck Baldwin did not have write-in status in North Carolina, so the November 25 total for him did not rise. The North Carolina write-ins are 1,510 for Nader, 158 for McKinney, and 24 for Brian Moore.
There are still many more votes to count across the nation. For example, Franklin County, Ohio, alone, has 27,000 uncounted provisional ballots. They cannot be counted until the court dispute has been settled.
On November 24, the Virginia State Board of Elections certified its election results. They show that Democrat Tom Perriello defeated incumbent Republican Virgil Goode by 745 votes, in the U.S. House race in the 5th district. However, there are some rejected overseas military ballots that weren’t counted because they arrived too late. A lawsuit is pending over those ballots.
The Ohio U.S. House race in the 15th district is still not decided. Republican Steve Stivers leads Mary Jo Kilroy by 149 votes, but there are approximately 1,000 uncounted provisionals. The 6th circuit will decide soon whether they are valid; they are all cases in which the voter didn’t fill out all the information on the outer envelope. Briefs should all be filed by the end of November 25. The lawsuit is State ex rel Ska v Brunner, 08-4585. UPDATE: on November 25 the 6th circuit ruled that the lawsuit belongs in state court. Also, the original post should have mentioned that the Ohio 19th U.S. House race is still undecided; Democrat Marlan Harris leads Republican Brad Lewis by 40 votes.
In the California 4th district, Republican Tom McClintock leads by 645 votes over Democrat Charlie Brown. However, all the votes aren’t counted yet. UPDATE: McClintock is leading by 1,566 votes, so this race is probably settled in his favor. Thanks to the commenter for this news.
On November 4, 2008, 43 states held regularly-scheduled partisan legislative elections. In these 43 states, 5.9% of all the seats switched parties.
But in Washington state, using “top-two” for the first time, only 3.2% of the seats switched parties. By contrast, in 2006, when Washington was using a normal primary, 11.4% of the seats switched parties. And in 2004, when Washington was also using a normal primary, 4.1% switched parties.
Concerning the entire nation in 2008, there were 5,801 regularly-scheduled partisan elections up. 206 of them switched from Republican to Democratic. 124 of them switched from Democratic to Republican. Twelve of them switched in other ways (such as Constitution Party to Democratic Party in Montana, or Democratic to Green in Arkansas, etc.). These figures could still change slightly since some recounts exist.
On November 4, 2008, 43 states held regularly-scheduled partisan legislative elections. In these 43 states, 5.9% of all the seats switched parties.
But in Washington state, using “top-two” for the first time, only 3.2% of the seats switched parties. By contrast, in 2006, when Washington was using a normal primary, 11.4% of the seats switched parties. And in 2004, when Washington was also using a normal primary, 4.1% switched parties.
Concerning the entire nation in 2008, there were 5,801 regularly-scheduled partisan elections up. 206 of them switched from Republican to Democratic. 124 of them switched from Democratic to Republican. Twelve of them switched in other ways (such as Constitution Party to Democratic Party in Montana, or Democratic to Green in Arkansas, etc.). These figures could still change slightly since some recounts exist.