Vote counting update thread

[old timey villain]

The RCP average was actually 2.9%, exactly the result.

The Atlas says it's only a 2% margin

[old timey villain]

Dave has no write-in votes in the totals for Washington state, WV and Missouri.
Ohio, Utah and PA write in totals are incomplete.  Some counties don't have them listed yet.

Some California counties' vote totals declined slightly from what I had off the county clerks' websites, perhaps indicating that some write in ballots were dropped from the count before certification

I've included write-in votes on my spreadsheet if you're interested in taking a look at that. The link is in my signature.

Dave Wasserman says Hawaii hasn't certified because there are still disputes about some of the minor races which is holding up the entire process.

I'd like to know: why hasn't New York finished counting? They should have done so before the electoral college met on December 17th. Don't they believe in due process any more?

There's a big problem with vote counting in the USA in my opinion. In most countries it's recognised that you have to count all the votes within a few days, even if it doesn't affect the result. But the attitude in a lot of American states seems to be: "We know who the winner is, so what's the point in finishing counting all the votes?" That's the type of attitude you'd expert in a third-world country rather than the world's number one superpower.

New York still has 413,000 votes to count according to Wasserman and yet the New York electors have already cast their ballots. That isn't a good example of democracy in action.

Another argument for the electoral college. In our current system, 400K votes from New York don't matter because it's clear who won the state, and even if they all go to Romney it won't change the electoral map. But imagine a popular vote system, where 400K votes from any state could alter the outcome of a close election. Luckily, with the way things are now, outstanding ballots will only affect an election if they come from a very close state that acts as a tipping point in the electoral college totals, so the chances of a hung election are slimmer.

[old timey villain]

Dave has no write-in votes in the totals for Washington state, WV and Missouri.
Ohio, Utah and PA write in totals are incomplete.  Some counties don't have them listed yet.

Some California counties' vote totals declined slightly from what I had off the county clerks' websites, perhaps indicating that some write in ballots were dropped from the count before certification

I've included write-in votes on my spreadsheet if you're interested in taking a look at that. The link is in my signature.

Dave Wasserman says Hawaii hasn't certified because there are still disputes about some of the minor races which is holding up the entire process.

I'd like to know: why hasn't New York finished counting? They should have done so before the electoral college met on December 17th. Don't they believe in due process any more?

There's a big problem with vote counting in the USA in my opinion. In most countries it's recognised that you have to count all the votes within a few days, even if it doesn't affect the result. But the attitude in a lot of American states seems to be: "We know who the winner is, so what's the point in finishing counting all the votes?" That's the type of attitude you'd expert in a third-world country rather than the world's number one superpower.

New York still has 413,000 votes to count according to Wasserman and yet the New York electors have already cast their ballots. That isn't a good example of democracy in action.

Another argument for the electoral college. In our current system, 400K votes from New York don't matter because it's clear who won the state, and even if they all go to Romney it won't change the electoral map. But imagine a popular vote system, where 400K votes from any state could alter the outcome of a close election. Luckily, with the way things are now, outstanding ballots will only affect an election if they come from a very close state that acts as a tipping point in the electoral college totals, so the chances of a hung election are slimmer.

Not really. The only reason vote counting is taking so long is that no one cares. If it actually mattered, they'd have finished counting ages ago.

You might be right, but it could be wishful thinking.

[old timey villain]

I believe it also means that New York swung towards Obama!

[old timey villain]

So these are the final (rounded) official figures:

Obama/Biden: 51%
Romney/Ryan: 47%
third parties/other: 2%

Mr. 47 Percent. He earned it!