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McCain sues to force Va. to count military ballots


WVUforREDSKINS

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RICHMOND, Va. — Republican John McCain's presidential campaign sued the Virginia election board Monday, claiming absentee ballots weren't mailed on time to military members serving overseas.

The complaint asks the U.S. District Court in Richmond to order the state to count absentee ballots postmarked by Tuesday and received by Nov. 14. It contends that thousands of troops' ballots _ many of which would go to McCain _ will not be counted.

The deadline for ballots to be received is 7 p.m. Election Day, which is Tuesday.

The lawsuit is the second in a week to challenge preparations for the presidential election in Virginia, where Barack Obama hopes to become the first Democrat since 1964 to win the state's 13 electoral votes. Polls over the past week show him about even with or slightly ahead of McCain.

More than 436,000 new Virginia voters have registered since Jan. 1, and about 500,000 people _ a tenth of the state's electorate_ have cast absentee ballots.

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Nov03/0,4670,McCainSuitVirginia,00.html

And a judge just ruled that the votes must all be counted. It will take until Nov. 10th to count all oversees military ballots.

So if McCain loses VA by a few thousand votes and VA is a pivotal state that could swing an election, we may not know who the Pres is until the 10th.

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Please...let...it...die. Gore was seeking a selective recount himself.

Just like this one.

So, now we've got special, military-only, election laws? Why can't Joe The Plumber wail and mail his ballot on election day and have the state wait to count it, too?

(Yes, that was a joke. Mostly. On one hand, I'm ticked that gee, nobody noticed this problem until the day of the election? The military people didn't request their absentee ballots two months ago? OTOH, going to court the day of the election is infinitely better than going to court The Day After, at least as far as appearances are concerned.)

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Larry,it is my understanding Virginia was late mailing the ballots out.

No matter the men and women serving overseas should have every opportunity to have their vote counted....it's not like THEY can just go to the polls

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Hope this election doesn't hinge on VA - Politico is reporting this wouldn't be resolved until November 10th.

Also, I'm a bit concerned about WVU's comment.

JMU it's going to be a while before we know about VA exit polls. So I wouldn't hinge too much on FauxNews.

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Larry,it is my understanding Virginia was late mailing the ballots out.

No matter the men and women serving overseas should have every opportunity to have their vote counted....it's not like THEY can just go to the polls

But they were late mailing all the ballots out. (At least, I assume they didn't somehow mail out all the ballots except the military, then wait a couple of weeks, then the military ones.)

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I think I just love the drama of the day. That is why im glued to FOX right now.

Why wouldn't the exit polls be legit? They just ask people after they vote.

They do it all day and then use the data they gather to conclude that people in the morning are more likely to vote X while people in the evening are more likely to vote Y (and such). As far as I know it isn't anything more than that.

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But they were late mailing all the ballots out. (At least, I assume they didn't somehow mail out all the ballots except the military, then wait a couple of weeks, then the military ones.)

Larry, I suspect we're largely on the same page here. I'm sure we both want EVERY ballot counted, IAW whatever laws or statutes govern that.

But I think you're missing something here, with all respect. Let's say the ballots were supposed to go out an Oct. 10th, but they went out on Oct. 20th -- for everybody.

Billy Bob in Roanoke has a pretty good chance of getting his ballot to Richmond (or wherever) by Nov. 4th. Can we say the same of Bobby Sue in Fallujah?

Like I said, I think we're on the same page here, just a technicality.

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Well if that's the case then Obama wins OH and IN big.

Actually, my point is that to this day, we have people claiming (without any basis in reality whatsoever) that "The Liberal Media" intentionally called Florida for Gore several minutes before polls closed (in a very few counties that are in a different time zone from the rest of the state), and that this announcement that The Election Was Over caused millions of people who were sitting in front of their TVs, minutes before the polls closed, to fail to vote when they obviously would have voted (if they hadn't been sitting in front of their TVs just before closing time).

In short, I think it's a pretty safe bet that your typical Fox viewer steadfastly believes that calling a state before the polls close only happens when the network calling the state is intentionally doing so for the specific purpose of suppressing turnout (among the side that they claim is losing).

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So, uh, Fox News is calling Virginia? Isn't that a little, oh, early? :halo:

No.

FOX News hasn't called VA or any state. They were showing the results of their early exit polls.

Some of them favored Obama:

Among young voters

New Voters

Some of them for McCain:

Among white males

Those whose criteria is experience

All of their exit poll data was prefaced by the comment: "This is early exit poll data so take it with a grain of salt. We'll have a clearer picture as the night rolls on and more data becomes available.

How in the hell anyone gets "FOX has called VA" out of that is beyond me.

Sheesh............:doh:

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