OBAMA WINS PENNSYLVANIA
6:15 p.m.
Good luck with expanding the map, Willard.
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ANTI-CHOICE CATHOLIC ASSHOLE WHO DEFEATED BIGGER ANTI-CHOICE CATHOLIC ASSHOLE REELECTED IN PA!
6:14 p.m.
Fox News calls PA senate race for Bob Casey...
— National Review (@NRO) November 7, 2012
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MAYBE NOW THEY'LL TRY TO CREATE SOME JOBS?
6:10 p.m.
CNN is reporting that the Republicans are projected to hold the House.
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IMPORTANT NOTICE!
6:11 p.m.
If you are in line at the bar at the Showbox, STAY IN LINE. They have to serve you! So long as you are in line! Drink up!
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MEET KATIE, THE GIRL IN THE "SLUTS FOR OBAMA" T-SHIRT
6:08 p.m.
Timothy Rysdyke
Katie thinks it's "in the bag" for Obama.
This is Katie Trent, 30. She bought her shirt online. She says: "I basically feel like its in the bag" for Obama. "What means the most to me is health care for everybody. So the presidential race is important to me. And it's also why I'm so anti-McKenna."
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NBC CALLS IT FOR ELIZABETH WARREN
6:06 p.m.
Holy shit:
RT @alex_ogle: RT @dailyintel: NBC NEWS CALLS MASSACHUSETTS SENATE RACE FOR ELIZABETH WARREN
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) November 7, 2012
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KING COUNTY EXEC DOW CONSTANTINE IN THE HOUSE
6:04 p.m.
How's turn out looking in King County?
Really strong. We have 600,000 ballots in that have already been validated and our elections director tells me that we're on track to count a half million of those ballots tonight. Strong turnout in King County bodes well for marriage, marijuana reform, Jay Inslee, and other Democratic candidates. Our system of all mail-in ballots helps us to avoid the last-second headaches they're seeing in Florida. And on top of that we've had a lot of employee-driven reform at the county, which has cut 40% off the time it used to take to count ballots. We have a more modern, more efficient system.
Looking forward to getting gay married?
No, but I'm am looking forward to signing the first marriage licenses for same-sex couples on December 6—if the thing passes. We have to get the thing passed. So go vote, if you haven't already.
The SECB's ballots are counted first. So are you looking forward to get high for the first time?
Yes! First time ever! And I'm really glad that the marijuana measure looks like it's going to pass. Drug prohibition has caused untold misery and done immense damage to our legal system. And it's time to start treating this as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue. When we legalize marijuana we'll be defunding street gangs, we'll be defunding international drug cartels, we'll be bringing this economy to the surface wher it can be regulated and taxed. It's a good thing.
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WE DON'T UNDERSTAND THE FLAG
An ex-Marine informed us that some of the flags we have hanging on our tables onstage at the Showbox were oriented in an unconstitutional way. The stars must be at starboard, apparently, or we can and shall be keel-hauled? Miraculous techperson Erin has made the appropriate patriotic adjustments. All hail!
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MORE PREDICTABLE RESULTS
6:02 p.m.
The Huffington Post says:
Michigan, New Jersey and New York have been called by most outlets for Obama. Romney is projected to win Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, at least three of Nebraska's electoral votes, the Dakotas, and Wyoming.
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TALK TO US AGAIN ABOUT SELF-DEPORTING, MITT
5:58 p.m.
The Huffington Post says:
An impreMedia-Latino Decisions election eve poll to be released in full later Tuesday evening will show President Barack Obama with more than 73 percent of the Latino vote, according to a source familiar with the numbers but unauthorized to discuss them publicly before the release.
If those numbers hold, that's higher than even President Clinton, the previous elected official with the highest percentage of the Latino vote.
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OH, DICK
5:47 p.m.
Dick Morris, the awful Republican pollster who predicted that Romney would win the Electoral College with eleventy-billion EVs, now tweets:
#election201260% of Florida in, down by 2.worried
— Dick Morris (@DickMorrisTweet) November 7, 2012
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ANOTHER VOTING MACHINE IN PA AWARDING OBAMA VOTES TO ROMNEY
5:40 p.m.
Another PA voting machine awarding Obama votes to Romney:
County officials have found another Romney-loving robot: A faulty electronic voting machine in Union County, Pennsylvania, has been recalibrated and put back online after it wouldn't allow a vote for President Obama, Mother Jones has confirmed.
Earlier today, MJ reported on another incident this morning in Perry County, Pennsylvania, in which a voting computer's touchscreen ballot converted all Obama votes into votes for Romney. The second machine came to light after a local college professor found he couldn't cast his vote for Obama on it.
"I spoke with a poll worker there and saw her fold up the machine. I also called [a national wattchdog hotline] to report the incident," said Andy Hirsch, director of media communications at Bucknell University, who posted a video of the machine's malfunction on Vimeo after it failed to record his ballot choices.
Funny how voting machines never "malfunction" the other way around, huh?
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MEET JENNA AND MICHELLE: "IT'S CRAZY THAT WE MIGHT HAVE THE OPTION TO GET MARRIED EVENTUALLY, IF WE WANT TO"
5:35 p.m.
Timothy Rysdyke
Jenna and Michelle, the two on the left, have been dating for two years.
Jenna Ryan, 26, and Michelle Loveless, 24—the two on the left—think Referendum 74 is going to pass. They came to the Showbox together tonight. They have been dating for two years. Asked how she feels, Michelle said, "It's exciting. It's crazy that we might have the option to get married eventually, if we want to. By the power of the people."
Jenna and Michelle "met through a vinyl record," Michelle tells the SECB. The record was Monsters of Folk, by the supergroup that includes Jim James, Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and M. Ward. Michelle says, "I was actually on a date with somebody else, and the girl was really lame, and I drank a bunch, and I went to the record store and bought the album and then went back to the bar, and Jenna was like, 'What are you carrying around?' And she'd bought that album a week before." Awww, cute!! "I actually proposed to her that night as well," Michelle says. "I mean it was just a joke." But if Referendum 74 passes? Who knows!!
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WHAT DOES HULK HOGAN SAY ABOUT THAT?
5:34 p.m.
Chris Murphy has beaten Linda McMahon for the Connecticut seat. This is good news, especially because McMahon was using a sleazy last-minute disinformation campaign to convince voters that she supported President Obama, when she's totally just a pro-wrestling-funding Republican.
Also, Romney wins Arkansas. Boo. Expected, but boo.
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WILL MARYLAND BE FIRST STATE TO SAY "I DO" TO SODOMY-BASED MARRIAGE AT THE BALLOT BOX?
5:33 p.m.
Maryland marriage results still incoming, but holding 10-point lead. #LGBTvote Will Maryland make history tonight?
— The Advocate (@TheAdvocateMag) November 7, 2012
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ODDS AND ENDS
5:18 p.m.
Romney wins Mississippi. Angus King is now the independent senator from Maine. (The SECB admits to more than a fair share of fondness for Angus King, who is one of those independents who is actually a decent human being who votes his conscience. He was a good governor, and he'll probably be a very good—and very important—senator.)
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DEPT. OF COUNTING/MOURNING CHICKENS
5:17 p.m.
Watching FOX News, where they are all but conceding the race already. Love it.
— Sandeep Kaushik (@skaushik100) November 7, 2012
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IS THERE A VICODIN IN THE HOUSE?
5:14 p.m.
At least one member of the SECB is too sick to drink—here's a hint—and, according to sources close to this particular member of the SECB, he isn't sure how he will get through the night without the aid of alcohol. Sources indicate that this particular member of the SECB has been a basket case all day and is rumored to have run out of Vicodin late last night. The results coming in from Florida, where Obama is up by a single percentage point, are a particular torment to this SECB member.
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HERE'S SOME GOOD-LOOKING LOCAL NEWS
5:10 p.m.
The SECB's old buddy David "Davey Boy" Boardman writes:
King County's turnout projected to be an astounding 87 percent, higher than 2008's 84. #waelex
— David Boardman (@dlboardman) November 7, 2012
This could be good news for the state initiatives, depending on how the vote goes east of the mountains.
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TOO CLOSE TO CALL IN NC AND FL
5:08 p.m.
Obama remains up by a hair in both Florida and North Carolina, with exit polls saying these states are too close to call. More encouraging, Obama appears to be doing well in the districts he needs to do well in. Romney absolutely can't win without both FL and NC. If it's too close to call there, that bodes well for Obama.
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A BEVY OF RETURNS
5:03 p.m.
President Obama is projected to win Connecticut, Maine, Delaware, Rhode Island, Washington DC, Illinois, Maryland, and Massachusetts.
Mitt Romney is projected to win Oklahoma, Tennessee, and probably a bunch of other red states.
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THE STATE THAT KNOWS ROMNEY BEST AWARDS ITS EC VOTES TO THE OTHER GUY
5:02 p.m.
Massachusetts goes for Obama. No one is surprised, least of all Mitt Romney.
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THEY LIKE IT LONG AND SLOW IN VIRGINIA
4:57 p.m.
Virginia has hit the pause button on reporting results because so many voters are still in line.
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SAVOR IT—IT'S NOT GOING TO STAY THIS GOOD FOR THIS LONG
4:48 p.m.
First numbers from Ohio look good, but they're just first numbers:
RT @jimheath10tv: First count from Ohio: Obama 383,700 66%, Romney 190,383 33%. Per SOS
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) November 7, 2012
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OBAMA UP IN FLORIDA, GAY BLOGGER ON HIS LAST NERVE 4:57 p.m.
Obama leads in FL 52-48.Oh my gay nerves!
— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) November 7, 2012
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UPSET IN INDIANA?
4:52 pm
The first upset of the night may be brewing in the Indiana governor's race, where Republican favorite Mike Pence is clinging to a small lead over Democrat John Gregg before the most Democratic districts have reported. Pence is doing somewhat better than Republican US Senate nominee Richard "Rape Babies Are God's Will" Mourdock, but both are trailing Romney's tally by a longshot, and both look like they're likely headed to defeat.
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AND SO IT GOES
4:50 p.m.
NBC says Romney wins South Carolina. And the AP says Eric Cantor has unsurprisingly won his race, which means we'll continue to enjoy his presence on the national scene for at least 2 more years.
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DOING A LINE AT THE SHOWBOX
4:30 p.m.
This is the line outside Showbox at the Market, where the SECB is getting ready for our election night party. We're chugging Four Loko. But there's still plenty of room in here. It's free! Fret with us!
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DEPARTMENT OF NO SURPRISES
4:31 p.m.
CNN reports that Romney wins West Virginia. At some point, something interesting will probably happen tonight.
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JEEBUS 1, SCIENCE 0
4:27 p.m.
The Huffington Post reports that a Georgia congressional candidate who called the Big Bang and evolution "lies from the pit of hell" has won his race. Somewhere, Bill Nye pours himself a giant whiskey and shudders.
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EXIT POLLS
4:28 p.m.
Exit polls should be taken with a chunk of salt, but according to Josh Marshall at TPM:
The gist is that the first round exit polls show most of the key swing states at about exactly where the poll averages were.
That is encouraging. Or rather, that's not discouraging. Also, the exit polls show the demographics of the electorate looking more like 2008 than 2010 or 2004, with Hispanics now comprising 10 percent of the total vote, up from 9 percent in 2008. That's good news for Dems.
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STAY IN LINE, VIRGINIA
4:19 p.m.
In Virginia, the Obama campaign is sending out urgent text messages requesting volunteers to "make sure everyone who's still in line gets to vote." If you're in Virginia and you're in line to vote: Stay in line. You will get to vote. If anyone tells you that's not true, they're lying.
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PREDICTABLE RESULTS ARE PREDICTABLE
4:04 p.m.
ABC is calling Kentucky and Indiana for Romney. ABC is also calling Vermont for Obama. TWIST!
Ha ha, no not really. In other news, Virginia is at a 49-49 tie, according to CNN.
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THE EARLY SIGNS ARE CONFUSING
4 p.m.
All sorts of exit polling has hit Twitter in the last hour. Joel Connelly at the PI says a new CBS exit poll indicates voters believe the economy is their most important issue: "39 percent said economic conditions are getting better, 31 percent answered that the economy is getting worse, with 23 percent saying it will stay the same." Only 46 percent of the voters say that America is on the “Right Track.” You could interpret these numbers as positives or negatives for whichever candidate you prefer, and you would not be wrong. It's also important to remember that exit polls had John Kerry in the lead in 2004. So, in short: The Stranger Election Control Board would like to remind you to keep calm and take all this information with a grain of salt.
Also on Twitter is this piece of information:
CNN Exclusive: @peterhambycnn reports Romney campaign's internal polling in Ohio shows Obama up 5 points in crucial swing state.
— Hala Gorani (@HalaGorani) November 6, 2012
Those are not good numbers for Romney. But the thing about this kind of information is that it's really easy to fake, or to fudge, or to misrepresent. Again: We're in the part of the night when you should be very cautious about receiving new information.
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