NY-20 Special Election

[Lunar]

turnout light:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvFtnxqBwuwEltwfNBZytBYwy5HQD9795EMO1

[Lunar]

lol

http://www.legislativegazette.com/day_item.php?item=780

Today at 6 A.M. the polls opened for voters to come cast their ballot for the 20th Congressional District special election. In Chatham, Columbia County, a part of the 20th, voters seemed to be favoring Democratic candidate Scott Murphy over Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, but not by a large margin.

Of the 22 voters surveyed in Chatham, 14 people voted for Murphy and eight chose Tedisco. “I voted for Scott Murphy,” Chatham resident Ed Pawling told the Legislative Gazette. When asked why he chose the Democrat over Tedisco he said he “believes in his polices and what he stands for.”

[Franzl]

any idea if "light turnout" tells us anything?

[Lunar]

any idea if "light turnout" tells us anything?

It's the AP, they're retarded, so nope.

[Lunar]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0309/Turnout_high_in_Saratoga.html

Just finished visiting three precincts in Saratoga County, where turnout is well above expectations.

Election officials at the three Saratoga Springs precincts said they expected about 35 percent of registered voters to cast ballots by the time polls close at 9:00 EST.

One election official noted that many voters commented about their disgust with the negative tone of the campaign -- though that didn’t stop them from coming out to the polls.

On paper, that’s encouraging news for Republican Jim Tedisco because Saratoga County has traditionally been a Republican stronghold.  Tedisco also represents parts of the county in his statewide Assembly seat.

But the voting patterns of the county have changed dramatically in recent years – Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand won 59 percent of the county vote last year, and President Obama carried the county with 51 percent of the vote.

[Mr.Phips]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0309/Turnout_high_in_Saratoga.html

Just finished visiting three precincts in Saratoga County, where turnout is well above expectations.

Election officials at the three Saratoga Springs precincts said they expected about 35 percent of registered voters to cast ballots by the time polls close at 9:00 EST.

One election official noted that many voters commented about their disgust with the negative tone of the campaign -- though that didn’t stop them from coming out to the polls.

On paper, that’s encouraging news for Republican Jim Tedisco because Saratoga County has traditionally been a Republican stronghold.  Tedisco also represents parts of the county in his statewide Assembly seat.

But the voting patterns of the county have changed dramatically in recent years – Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand won 59 percent of the county vote last year, and President Obama carried the county with 51 percent of the vote.

The city of Saratoga Springs or the county of Saratoga?  Because the city is a Democratic stronghold. 

[Verily]

lol

http://www.legislativegazette.com/day_item.php?item=780

Today at 6 A.M. the polls opened for voters to come cast their ballot for the 20th Congressional District special election. In Chatham, Columbia County, a part of the 20th, voters seemed to be favoring Democratic candidate Scott Murphy over Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, but not by a large margin.

Of the 22 voters surveyed in Chatham, 14 people voted for Murphy and eight chose Tedisco. “I voted for Scott Murphy,” Chatham resident Ed Pawling told the Legislative Gazette. When asked why he chose the Democrat over Tedisco he said he “believes in his polices and what he stands for.”

How... useless.

Columbia County is the most Democratic part of the district, but I'm not sure if the Democratic-ness extends beyond the Hudson area (Hudson is a town, appropriately on the Hudson, and a big artist colony), which may be the driving force behind Democratic strength in the county (and so Chatham could be a less Democratic town).

Of course, a tiny sample means nothing anyway.

Btw, the towns surrounding Chatham are hilariously Dutch: Kinderhook, Schodack, Nassau, Ghent, and Austerlitz (and Canaan, damned Reformed tradition).

[Eraserhead]

Count two more votes for Murphy... me and my pops just voted. The turnout was bigger than I was expecting at least.

[Franzl]

Count two more votes for Murphy... me and my pops just voted. The turnout was bigger than I was expecting at least.

where do you live? Is that a strong Democratic area?

[Lunar]

ALBANY—The polls don't close until 9 p.m., but turnout in the special election today is "decent," according to Republican Party chair in Saratoga County.

"We think it's decent. It's a little early—it's a little unique because it's a March election—but we're getting good people out," said Jasper Nolan. "It's hard to tell, but if we get a good turnout in the Saratoga-Troy area, that's where we feel we can get some good numbers."

Larry Bulman, a union leader who chairs the Saratoga County Democratic Party, said, "I'd like to see higher numbers, but a lot of people don't turn out until later."

Bulman said he thinking the race is "too close to call" and is predicting 110,000 voters. He said representatives from the DCCC were predicting roughly seventy-five to eighty thousand voters. An independent observer told me last night that 91,000 is average for special elections.

As Irene Liu pointed out earlier, about 5,900 absentee ballots have been received so far by the State Board of Elections, and more will be accepted in coming days. That means if the race is truly close, it may not be decided tonight.

"Hopefully we'll know tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised if it goes longer," Bulman said.

[minionofmidas]

Btw, the towns surrounding Chatham are hilariously Dutch: Kinderhook, Schodack, Nassau, Ghent, and Austerlitz (and Canaan, damned Reformed tradition).

Austerlitz is Czech. And of course, a Napoleonic battlefield. Which I would suppose it's named for.
And you know who was from Kinderhook?

[Eraserhead]

Count two more votes for Murphy... me and my pops just voted. The turnout was bigger than I was expecting at least.

where do you live? Is that a strong Democratic area?

Well, I vote in Pleasant Valley (in Dutchess County). It's not a very Democratic area.

[Torie]

How did a creature as pathetic as Tedisco get as far as he did in politics I wonder?  Is the area a black hole for political talent or something?

[minionofmidas]

How... useless.

Columbia County is the most Democratic part of the district, but I'm not sure if the Democratic-ness extends beyond the Hudson area

Assuming that the towns are identical to the sum of the precincts named for them (hopefully not a large assumption) McCain won Greenpoint, Stockport and Livingston.

http://www.columbiacountyny.com/depts/elections/documents/2008results/county/President2009.pdf

[Franzl]

How did a creature as pathetic as Tedisco get as far as he did in politics I wonder?  Is the area a black hole for political talent or something?

Does that mean you're supporting Murphy, Torie?

[cinyc]

I checked the State Board of Elections page and there doesn't seem to be a link (at least not yet) to a results page. Anyone have ideas? Do you think the Albany news affiliates might have useful pages?

New York's Board of Elections website is a complete joke.  They've never posted timely returns.   Louisiana runs circles around this state when it comes to providing election returns.

The best bet will probably be to check Politico or the larger area newspapers'  (Poughkeepsie Journal, Albany Times-Union) and TV stations' (WRGB, WTEN, WNYT) websites for the APs returns from the district.  Alternatively, I'll check if we can sum up results from the various COUNTY boards of elections - but given past history, their results won't be timely, either.

Edit: Links to County BOE sites' result pages:
Columbia
Delaware
Dutchess
Essex
Greene
Ostego
Rensselaer
Saratoga
Warren
Washington

[Torie]

How did a creature as pathetic as Tedisco get as far as he did in politics I wonder?  Is the area a black hole for political talent or something?

Does that mean you're supporting Murphy, Torie?

I don't know enough about Murphy, or what the guys said, to make a judgment. But I am in a bad mood about my party, and have this impulse to punish it when it puts up nebbishes. The party apparently may need to stay in detention for a considerable period in order to move father along in its rehabilitation.

The GOP might also begin to ponder with considerably more intensity than it is doing now sources of replacement funding if the secular rich and upper middle class decide to cut off the money spigot even more than they are now.

[Eraserhead]

How did a creature as pathetic as Tedisco get as far as he did in politics I wonder?  Is the area a black hole for political talent or something?

Does that mean you're supporting Murphy, Torie?

I doubt it.  I'm supporting Tedisco, but I'm not happy about it.  Just look how ugly he is!  Where in the world does he get his haircut??

Sesame Street

[minionofmidas]

Sounds like someone at Ellis Island couldn't spell "tedesco". Which is Italian for "German".

[Brittain33]

ALBANY— "An independent observer told me last night that 91,000 is average for special elections."

This edition of "lying with statistics" is brought to you by the letters N and Y and the number 20.

[Brittain33]

Sounds like someone at Ellis Island couldn't spell "tedesco". Which is Italian for "German".

Yes, I've seen "Tudisco," too.

[Keystone Phil]

Sounds like someone at Ellis Island couldn't spell "tedesco". Which is Italian for "German".

Yeah, I was just going to point out the meaning, too. That's probably a reason why the last name bothers me as well. 

[Brittain33]

I doubt it.  I'm supporting Tedisco, but I'm not happy about it.  Just look how ugly he is!  Where in the world does he get his haircut??

Here Blubb, my gay gift to you, the best campaign song that Tedisco passed up the chance to use:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4lPA5G0DOo

Tedisco needs you. Jump ahead to 1:00 if you get antsy.

[cinyc]

turnout light:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvFtnxqBwuwEltwfNBZytBYwy5HQD9795EMO1

I call your turnout light article and raise you a turnout high article:
Turnout high for Congress race; get results here after 9 p.m. (Poughkeepsie Journal)

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[Lunar]

As I said, the AP is awful.  Other reports here have shown it modestly surprising