33 posts tagged “vote”

Sean shares...

Disputed 2008 U.S. Senate Race Ballot

The 2008 Election is STILL not over yet in a few places. One of the nastiest races in the nation is the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota between incumbent Senator Norm Coleman, Air America talk show and former Saturday Night Live writer/actor Al Franken, and former Senator Dean Barkley.

Currently, the state is canvassing all the precincts to settle issue over disputed and provisional ballots. As of today 37% of the precincts have been canvassed. Depending on the margin of error, there will be a recount called for. This recount could continue way into December at this point. At last press release, the unofficial vote count has Coleman leading Franken by only 136 votes. Barkley and the other two minor candidates do not have a chance in catching the top two, but they can be spoilers. Barkley's % in the race was in the double digit teens.

Here is a link to a great site created by Minnesota Public Radio showing examples of the ballots being reviewed. It really makes you think "Did I do that to my ballot?" or "Wow, people are really stupid or sloppy!"

All this will determine one of the two remaining U.S. Senate races still outstanding. The other is in Georgia where state law forces a run off between the two top vote getters if noone receives 50% +1 of the vote.

Sean crosses his fingers...

Proposition 8 so far is passing with a 52% to 48% majority of the vote. However, 3 million absentee and provisional ballots still remain to be counted in California. It's a long shot but its the last hope for sanity. Let's all pray for a miracle.

Sean reports...

Republican Representative Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado was voted out last night!  Musgrave is the main sponsor in the house and the author of the Marriage Amendment. She had made the ban on gay marriage her main issue for many years in both the state house of Colorado and later the Congress. Her intolerant ways will no longer grace the halls of Congress.

Unfortunately, Minnesota Republican Representative Michele Bachmann and her threats of investigations against fellow colleagues for un-American activities survived the election by 2% and will be returning to Congress. It makes you wonder what people are drinking in that district.

The other Republican Representative to declare Democrats un-American, Robin Hayes of North Carolina, lost his seat last night. So at least we got ride of 2 bad eggs.

The McFreeds celebrate the election of our next president...

America here is the face of the next four years. Another ceiling has fallen. May we pray that they serve all of us well.

The Next First and Second Families of the USA

The McFreeds react...

In a sad turn of events, on the day we elect the first African-American U.S. President, we take away the rights of other Americans to live their life as they want via a ballot proposition. Our hope for a truly changed America is dashed by the fear and intolerance of our fellow neighbor. Not all the precinct results are in on California's Proposition 8, 89% as of this posting, but overcoming a deficit of 300,000 votes in that time looks insurmountable.

Equally insulting is the taking away of rights of fellow gays and lesbians from adopting in Arkansas and the passage of similar Proposition 8 constitutional amendments in Florida and Arizona. 

Thank you America for slamming the door on our hope while selecting us a leader that brings it. Gay and lesbian Californians getting married didn't cause the house to burn down. It didn't break up straight marriages. It didn't kill anyone. The End of Days didn't come. But still, you looked your gay or lesbian neighbor in the eye who did get married and told them where to go. The anger in both of us at this electoral intolerance is only tempered by our sadness for those families who did get those licenses and now will be in legal limbo.

The McFreeds voted at 5:55pm in Maryland!  The line wasn't long and we waited only 5 minutes.

Sean reflects...

I was struck today to read that in MY hometown of Manassas, VA that 90,000 people showed up to see the Democratic candidate for President Barack Obama.  When growing up 20 - 25 years ago as a teenager, there was many a time when I was confronted with the negativity of being a Democrat in Prince William County, VA. It still is a bad thing today. But I guess for one day hell froze over and the Democrats or Democratic sympathizers ruled!  

This election never ceases to amaze me!

And The McFreeds thought the SAT test was mind numbing enough...

According to The Washington Post, the following voting error came up in Georgia. Thank goodness it wasn't an error in lining up votes!

In Gwinnett County, northeast of Atlanta, a printing error on absentee ballots means that the votes marked on as many as 19,000 of the ballots will have to be hand-copied onto new ballots.

Beginning at 9 a.m. today in a locked room, under the watchful eyes of security guards and observers from several political parties, 185 workers began transferring the votes from the flawed ballots -- which had misshapen ovals beside candidates' names -- onto corrected paper ballots that can be read by tallying equipment. The problem was not detected until voters began returning the ballots.

"We think we have it under control and can be done by 5 p.m.," said county spokesman Joe Sorenson.

The McFreeds share this short but meaningful reason for someone to vote today...

No matter what party, candidate, or referendum you voted for your vote matters!  This guy below did a great honor and voted in memory of his brother, a soldier who died in Iraq.

The McFreeds spread the wealth around and post the following videos...

Just because we might not support the McCain/Palin ticket does not mean we don't respect their own accomplishment in reaching this moment in their own lives. John McCain is a true patriot and unfortunately, in Sean's mind at least, missed his window in 2000 and ran a campaign focused on character and not action. Sarah Palin is a controversial figure in this election and she has really only been around us for 2 months. But we should recognize the symbolic ideal that she like Barack Obama is showing that America can also nominate a woman to one of the two highest offices in the land. I am sure both of their families are quite proud today of them. McCain has the honor of having his mother alive to see his accomplishment and Palin has her own parents as well. Congrats to them on getting this far regardless of party affiliation and policy position. We must all reach out and work with our political opposites to get this nation back on track again. Here's hoping we do.

I wish McCain and Palin well although they are not getting our votes.

Here are looks at McCain's and Palin's voting experience... just imagine if it was your name on the ballot?