Thread: Updates on ARIZONA 7 and 8 US House Races

Pueblo Politics: More votes to be counted today; could decide key races

Rhonda Bodfield Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, November 5, 2010 10:23 am | Comments


Pima County Elections Director Brad Nelson said he expects to post another round of votes around 5 p.m.

Today’s count should reflect most of the county’s outstanding 17,000 early ballots.

Numbers posted Thursday, from an initial round of 17,000 early ballots, showed a 6,000-vote gap widening between Democratic Congressman Raúl Grijalva and Ruth McClung, leaving that race all but over.

In Congressional District 8, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has a 3,000-vote lead over Republican Jesse Kelly.

The Pima County Recorder’s Office hopes today to turn over some of the roughly 13,000 outstanding provisional ballots — those requiring verification of identity or registration— but those won’t be counted today. Those will likely be counted over the weekend, including Sunday.

By state law, all votes must be counted by Nov. 12.

http://azstarnet.com/news/blogs/pueblo- ... 03286.html

MSNBC political personality Keith Olbermann is getting some attention today for donating to three Congressional campaigns. Among them, Southern Arizona’s own Democratic Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords.

The left-leaning cable talk show host gave the maximum individual contribution of $2,400 to each of them, plus Senate candidate Jack Conway, who lost the Kentucky seat to Rand Paul.

The potential violation of NBC’s ethics policy was first reported this morning by POLITICO. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44734.html

Grijalva has all-but-officially held on to his seat after a close race with Republican Ruth McClung. Giffords’ race against Republican Jesse Kelly remains too close to call as about 30,000 early ballots turned in on election day and provisional ballots continue to be counted.

The Friday before the election, Kelly was named on Olbermann’s “Worst person in the worldâ€

Grijalva apparently has beaten McClung

Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva apparently has held on to his Congressional District 7 seat in a close race with Republican Ruth McClung.

New vote totals released by the Pima County elections office and Arizona secretary of state show Grijalva has expanded his slim election-night lead over McClung to about 6,000 votes. The new total comes mostly from 17,000 additional votes counted in Pima County on Thursday, along with some more votes from other counties that make up a smaller portion of the district's population.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords also expanded her lead over Republican challenger Jesse Kelly. But with about 30,000 uncounted ballots remaining in Pima County - many of them in her Congressional District 8, their race remains too close to call. The new totals, which show Giffords with about a 3,000-vote lead, include updated returns from Cochise and Pima counties.

Grijalva's lead stands at 49 percent to McClung's 45 percent. Giffords' advantage over Kelly is 49 percent to 47 percent.

In another cliffhanger, Proposition 203, to legalize medical marijuana, became an even tighter race with a new round of statewide counting. The proposition now trails 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent.

While Grijalva already had made a tentative declaration of victory on election night, he sounded cautious but optimistic after the new vote totals came out Thursday.

Grijalva said he believes the remaining votes will follow the same trend, further increasing his lead.

He said the race will be settled in Pima County, where he's traditionally won the district and holds a strong lead.

Grijalva said: "We feel like we did on election night. The decision comes down to Pima County, and the voters in Pima County said we're in good shape, and we continue to believe that."

McClung continued to hold off on making a statement until all of the votes are counted.

"In politics, you never know. We're just going to wait and see until all the votes are counted," she said Thursday.

Giffords' campaign sent out a cautious statement Thursday, noting that she has led since the polls closed on Tuesday, and that the majority of uncounted ballots were from Pima County, where Giffords holds a solid advantage.

Adam Kwasman, Kelly's campaign manager, said, "We're waiting for all of the votes to be counted, and we're going to take it from there." Kwasman estimated about 20,000 votes remain to count among the four counties - Cochise along with parts of Pima, Santa Cruz and Pinal - that make up the district.

"I think the race is definitely going to tighten," he said.

Elections Director Brad Nelson said he hoped to process another 17,000 early votes today, leaving about 13,000 provisional ballots outstanding. By state law, those must be counted by next Friday.

Another tight race, for the House in Legislative District 26, also remains too close to call. Republican newcomer Terri Proud is the top vote-getter and appears likely to claim one of the district's seats. Republican incumbent Vic Williams has about 850 votes more than Democratic incumbent Nancy Young Wright for the second seat.

Statewide, there are roughly 221,000 early ballots remaining, along with 83,000 provisional ballots.

http://azstarnet.com/article_1be27618-8 ... 16051.html

If the illegal votes are thrown out, I wonder what the real count would be. I absolutely believe that the races were rigged.

Keith Olbermann suspended indefinitely without pay!! Lets hope he stays that way!!

Being that I live her in Grijalva's district, I have been talking to co-workers and neighbors. I keep finding people who are Hispanic who tell me they either have known Grijalva for years or voted for him in the past who, today, have no respect for him and purposely voted against him this election.

He's also the type of guy who is so arrogant that he won't feel that a message was sent to him with this close race that happened this time.

I hope a Democrat takes him on in the Primary next time.