Posted, 6:47 p.m. — Barack Obama tonight became the first Democrat since 1964 to win a Nebraska electoral vote.

The Ballot Box is calling the Omaha-area race for Obama.

In an e-mail interview tonight, the head of the Douglas County Election Commission said his office was continuing to count the onslaught of early-voting ballots it had received.

“We have counted around 15,000 early voting ballots today,” said Dave Phipps, election commissioner of Douglas County, where Omaha is located.

Phipps acknowledged a report in the Omaha World-Herald that said the newspaper also was calling the race for Obama.  Election Web site fivethirtyeight.com also has called the race for Obama.

The race had been too close to call on Election Day.  As of early Wednesday, John McCain had led Obama by 569 votes out of more than 250,000 cast within the district, which includes parts of Sarpy County, home to several Omaha suburbs.

As of late Friday, Obama had 51.1 percent of votes within Douglas County.  John McCain had 47.3 percent.

According to the Nebraska Secretary of State, McCain led Obama in suburban Sarpy County.  But Obama’s continuing edge in Douglas County will lead to Obama’s clinching of the district’s electoral vote.

“It appears the papers are calling Sen. Obama the winner in the 2nd District,” Phipps said.

Omaha’s Electoral College vote brings Obama’s total to 365.

Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that split their electoral votes.  All other states are winner-takes-all.  Each of Nebraska’s three congressional districts gets an electoral vote; the other two votes are given to the overall winner of the state.  This year, that is McCain.

Though the race has already been called by news organizations, Phipps said his office still had work to do before it could certify the results.  Staffers will continue to count early and provisional ballots through Tuesday and will report results on Thursday, he said.

– BY BRAD DAVIS

Stay with The Ballot Box for updates, and for original reporting, on this historic victory.

Click on “Omaha” in the Tags menu on the right-hand side of this page to read our previous in-depth reporting on Omaha voters.

Omahan Deb Bridgman says she feels that her vote influenced history. BRAD DAVIS/The Ballot Box

Bridgman, who before the election said Obama’s ascent would open the eyes of African-Americans to the possibilities in their lives, voted along with 52 percent of her fellow Omaha residents for Obama.

The Douglas County Election Commissioner on Wednesday said his office still was counting 9,000 absentee ballots, and would not declare a winner in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District until possibly next week.

A majority of voters in Douglas County, which overlays the city of Omaha, voted for Obama, but residents of suburban Sapry County, which makes up a small, but not inconsequential, part of the 2nd District, chose John McCain.

The latest count showed Obama trailing McCain by 569 votes out of more than 250,000 cast.  Up for grabs is the Omaha area’s one electoral vote.

Whether or not Obama wins the 2nd District, Bridgman said her vote influenced history.

“It matters,” she said.

Before the election, Bridgman had purchased an Obama bumper sticker she affixed to her gray minivan.  It read: “African Americans for Obama.”

Wednesday, Bridgman took a Magic Marker to the sticker.

It now reads: “Americans for Obama.”

– BY BRAD DAVIS

At roughly 12.30am today, the most relieved students who spilled out onto Columbia University’s campus and the surrounding streets of Broadway and Amsterdam were probably not the staunch supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. They were the university’s journalism students who had just completed their most ambitious project yet: extensive multimedia coverage of the U.S. presidential election.

Their coverage included setting up and running Decision NYC, a website devoted to different aspects of the election across the U.S., including the youth vote and voter opinions in swing states. Stories for the website were fine tuned by Journalism School lecturers, and were accompanied by audio and video packages as well as photographs.

But the true moment of proverbial glory was the culmination of several weeks of work: a five-hour live broadcast of TV and radio slots streamed by the J-school on Decision NYC. The broadcast began at 7pm and ended at 12pm. Packages included reports from journalism students across the country, interviews with experts and radio packages of interviews conducted by students.

Professor Ann Cooper, Broadcast Director at the School, described the coverage as a “historic effort for this school and the most collaborative multimedia project out students have ever done.”

“Each of the programs was lively and innovative,” she said in a congratulatory e-mail to the students. “The teams who produced them … did remarkable deadline work.”

The election coverage was a collaboration between 52 broadcast students, with 20 print students providing stories for the website and assistance on the evening of the broadcast. The project was overseen by around 20 faculty members.

Professor John Dinges, whose print class assisted with copy for the radio hosts as results came in, has been involved in election coverage at the school since 1996. He described the coverage as a “true multimedia project, which is appropriate because this is a truly historic moment.”

“We really rose to the occasion,” said Dinges.

Senior producer Kirk Carapezza said he thought the broadcast went well considering that students were from different classes and had to learn how to communicate under pressure. However the broadcast was far from error-free.

“It wasn’t the smoothest rundown,” said Carapezza. “Some of the transitions weren’t that good. It’s difficult to report breaking news and this was our pilot show. I don’t think many programs have their pilot show on election night,” he laughed.

Desk producer Alison Moodie, who also produced an audio package on women’s feelings about Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, said that despite the stress the broadcast students felt prepared for the night because of the training they had received so far. She is grateful that the school encouraged the students to cover the elections.

“It was such a historic election, how could we not cover it?” she said. “It gave us good practice, it was like the real deal.”

Senior producer Franz Strasser said that parts of the broadcast “didn’t go like we planned it at all.”

“But we did it!” he said, shortly after Sen. Barack Obama was announced President.

Trust was an important factor in compiling the broadcast and running the website.

“The best thing we learned,” said Strasser, “was how to prepare beforehand, how to have a Plan B, and how to have a Plan C, and if Plan C fails, how we can make a good show anyway.” Strasser said that one of the mistakes producers made was being too busy to take the time to look at other coverage of the election on the TV and online.

Despite various hitches, the coverage was considered a great success by staff and students. Dean of Academic Affairs, Bill Grueskin, said he was very proud of the students and how they held their composure throughout the night.

“They played a lot of notes on the keyboard,” he said. “We’re very proud of them.”

- By JACKIE BISCHOF

Still undecided: the Omaha area, Missouri and North Carolina. Photo/FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM

Of course, it won’t technically matter because Obama now is estimated to have 349 Electoral College votes, according to major news organizations.  A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Nebraska allots its five Electoral College votes proportionally, a system that makes it differ from all other states except for Maine.

As of Wednesday afternoon, races had been called in most of the state’s precincts.  John McCain won four of Nebraska’s five electoral votes.

In the 2nd Congressional District, which overlays the core of the Omaha metropolitan area, things were different: Residents of the city of Omaha chose Obama 51 percent over 48 percent for McCain.

Residents of suburban Sarpy County, which makes up a small, but not inconsequential, part of the 2nd Congressional District, chose McCain over Obama.

As of early this morning, McCain led Obama by 569 votes out of more than 260,000 cast, when considering votes from the entire congressional district

According to the Web site fivethirtyeight.com: Neither Obama nor McCain has won Nebraska’s 2nd district. It’s extremely close.

Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District and the states of Missouri and North Carolina are the only two areas left to be called by the Web site.

– BY BRAD DAVIS

Stay with The Ballot Box ’08 for updates on the Omaha race, and for reaction to the historic race from swing districts across the country.

If the initial count, with more than 93 percent of the votes tallied, holds, Nebraska would give an Electoral College vote to a Democrat for the first time since 1964.

All but four of Nebraska’s 93 counties voted for John McCain, according to the Secretary of State’s latest count.

Some prognosticators had said Omaha’s one vote could break a tie in a close national election.  With Obama projected to take 338 electoral votes as of early Wednesday morning, Omaha’s vote wasn’t needed to put Obama over the edge.

But bigger than possibly flipping a single district that has voted Republican in every election since Lyndon B. Johnson is amassing to the ‘D’ column a string of states that normally vote Republican.

Said a 17-year-old black young man in Omaha at the end of October: “It’s going to change everything.”

– BY BRAD DAVIS

Check back to The Ballot Box ’08 for the final Omaha tally, and for full post-election coverage.

They braved the morning chill in New Jersey to ensure their votes counted, in boosting Senator Barack Obama’s chances of occupying White House.
To many of them, it was a culmination of a grueling campaign, under their association, Kenyan American Community Association, formed to champion the interests of Kenyans in America.

“It was a historic moment for me today to be part of the decision making panel that will determine who becomes the next President. We have been campaigning for Barack since he became the Democratic Party and today is the anticlimax,” said Shem Onditi, the founder of the association.

This year’s election has elicited massive interest among Kenyan Americans, who had in past shown less interest in U.S. politics. Kenyan Americans feel closest to Obama, who was born to a Kenyan father and an American mother. Obama’s links to Kenya is one of the major reasons why Kenyan Americans have shown interest in this year’s election.

Onditi, who has lived in America for 26 years, voted at 6:15am at PS 38 polling station in Jersey City, accompanied by his wife and son.

The businessman, expressed confidence Obama would win the Presidential race, citing opinion polls, which had showed Obama leading his closest challenger Senator John McCain.

Onditi described Obama’s rise to fame as a miracle.
“I had never thought in my wildest dream, a child bearing a Kenyan name, a Kenyan identity could ever come this far to be president of the most powerful country in the world.”

He said the Democratic Presidential nominee was the most suited candidate for White House, capable of building friendship with the rest of the world.

George Omburo, 47, also woke up in the wee hours of the morning to cast his ballot at PS 38, before going to work.

Omburo, a data analyst, voted for Obama and described him as a shinning star for minorities worldwide.

“As a man born in Kenya, it brings pride in me that one can be an immigrant and on the lowest end of the social ladder but still make it in life. You can rise to the highest office on land,” said Omburo.

He described Obama as god-sent, and the right person America needed to steer the super power out of the economic crisis.

The said Obama’s Kenya connection had improved the status of Kenya in the eyes of the international community.

“Everybody will know Kenya and where it is. This is important for tourism,” said Omburo.

Peter Masonge, a teacher in New Jersey, who voted at PS38 polling station, described the day as one of the most important days in his life.

“I have voted for a person I feel very close to and that does not happen frequently when one is in foreign land,” Masonge added.

He, said Obama’s presidency would open a new chapter on world relations, based on reconciliation rather than war.

Students Elijah Ogotu, 23, and Stefanie Nunda, 19, also heeded the “come out and vote” message and queued to cast their votes at daybreak. The two voted at Sacred Heart School, District 23.

Nunda said Obama’s presidency was special, as it had raised hope and enthusiasm among minorities in America.
“Thanks to Obama. I now have a lot of pride in me; Kenyan pride and American pride,” she added.

Ogotu said he felt closest to Obama, not only because he was black, but also because of his Kenyan roots.

“I am Kenyan and it will be historic to see a black man occupying the White House. I am proud to see one of us in there, it gives us hope,” he added.

Unlike the election in Kenya, which is always characterized by massive rigging, Ogotu said, the election would be free and fair and Obama declared the winner.

Bill Nyanongo, a businessman who also voted in Jersey City, said he had fulfilled his goal, which he made early this year of voting for Obama.

“I was worried something might wrong might happen today, before I fulfill my goal. I am now satisfied that I was able to meet it,” said Nyanongo.

The Kenyan American Community Association, Onditi said, had campaigned for Senator Obama and helped mobilize Kenyan-Americans living in New Jersey and other states to vote for the Illinois Senator.

“We have done groundwork campaign and raised funds. We have never been committed this way before! That is how serious it is,” the 51-year-old businessman.

- BY JEFF OTIENO

8th graders from Holy Name of Jesus School rally for Obama on the Upper West Side

Posted 7:33 p.m., NEW YORK – They can jump, dance, rap and sing, but they can’t vote. These are the 8th grade students from Holy Name of Jesus school, on the Upper West Side. The girls were seen on 95th and Broadway by passersby, chanting an impromptu rap, “Whose gonna lower your taxes? Obama, Obama, Obama!”

One of the girls, who had picked up an Obama-O’Donnell sign and waved it around to people in cars, was very enthusiastic about her contribution.

“Well we can’t vote, but we can do this to make a difference,” she said.

Election Day, Upper West Side, New York

– BY INSIYAH SAEED

Curtis High School in Staten Island hosts voters from the 18th, 19th and 20th electoral districts. Photo: Jackie Bischof

Gloria Smith is having a long day.

She woke up shortly after 4 a.m. to arrive at Curtis High School near the north shore of Staten Island by 5:30 a.m. By 11 a.m., she’s had her eye on the hundreds of voters that have already streamed through the door of the school. She’ll be spending her whole day there, answering questions from nervous first-time voters, directing the queues of impatient people, doing her job as a Democratic Party poll watcher.

She is not looking forward to this evening’s after-work rush, but was buoyed by the early morning voter turnout.

“It was amazing to see how many people came out and voted so early. I feel wonderful,” she said. “People feel like they are taking part in progress and they’re energized.”

A 59-year-old retired employee of the City of New York who has volunteered at polling stations before, Smith is well versed in election law and station rules rules. She was dispatched by NY Democratic Lawyers Council and Dem. City Councilman Mike McMahon’s office to watch over a station in an area that is playing host to what some consider to be New York City’s closest political race.

Sounds of the voting lever, and chatter of excited voters filled the hall of Curtis High School on the morning of the U.S. national elections. Photo: Jackie Bischof

McMahon is campaigning against former assemblyman and Rep. Bob Straniere to represent the 13th Congressional District, an area that covers Staten Island as well as Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst in Brooklyn. The area is known as one of the few Republican hotspots in New York State, and has been “GOP red for 26 years,” according to New York’s metro newspaper.

However, the seat went up for grabs when incumbent Rep. Representative Vito Fossella agreed not to campaign for re-election after being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in Virgina earlier this year. Fossella was returning from visiting a daughter he had fathered while having an affair – a daughter no one knew about.

The close congressional race has made some people concerned about what would happen if there were ballot miscounts or election machine mishaps, issues that are more prominent in swing states then in traditionally Democrat-leaning New York State.

While Smith directed traffic inside and made sure everything was running smoothly, Board of Elections volunteer Robert Kee stood outside, asking people what their addresses were so that he could direct them to their correct district line before they went inside. Most people looked at Kee oddly as he greeted them with “Good morning, can I help you?”, looking a bit suspicious that someone was approaching them outside the polling station.

Volunteer Robert Kee helps a voter find out what electoral district he is in. Photo: Jackie Bischof

“Some people are absolutely insistent that you leave them alone, that they know what they want to do,” he said. “And then they’ll stand in line for half an hour and they’ll get up to the desk and they’ll realize that they were standing in the wrong line.”

“Tonight, I suspect, will just be crazy,” said Kee. “Everyone that’s been working here for years says they’ve never seen voter turnout like this. And tonight, the working class folks will come, middle-class folks will come after jobs … it’ll be crazy.”

Kee says excitement about the election is mixed with a general suspicion about the voting process. He’s particularly worried about how his community will feel if Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain takes areas that have been polled as Democratic Party wins – or if Democratic Party nominee, Sen. Barack Obama takes areas people thought would be taken by McCain.

“There is a lot of skepticism about the last eight years,” said Kee. “There’s always going to be that suspicion [about the election process.] We know that it’s a human process, so by definition it’s imperfect.” That suspicion is especially prevalent amongst marginalized communities, said Kee.

Being a volunteer is “good work to be doing,” according to Kee, despite the suspicious looks he gets from voters every now and again. “To see people engaged in the politics of their country, the politics of their city, the politics of their burrogh, it’s absolutely exciting to me.”

Sharon Valentine, who describes herself as a housing advocate, says people are excited about casting their vote in this historic election. Photo: Jackie Bischof

Sharon Valentine, co-chair of nearby Castleton Park apartment’s Tenants’ Association, also has concerns about mix ups that might affect results. Her niece had to fill out a paper ballot because she hadn’t voted in two years and was removed from the list of voters without realizing that she had to re-register. She says her niece is worried about “exactly where that paper ballot is going to go.”

Despite her concerns, Valentine speaks passionately about the impact of everyone’s vote in a district with such a close race.

“We have first time voters here from the building. It’s so important to me – this process,” said Valentine. “It’s so historical – everybody wants to be counted.”

- By JACKIE BISCHOF

“I’m a Republican, but I think on the federal level I really got tired of President Bush’s policies in the world,” he said.

Fazlin, who is also a Muslim, feels that the attitude of the Republican party towards Muslims has put “him over the edge.” He said that especially in St. Petersburg, Muslims are leaning towards the Democratic party this year.

“I think the Republican party has energized the muslim party to vote for Obama,” he said.

Fazlin, whose main circle of friends are actually not Muslim, but a mix of people of all backgrounds, said that after he decided to vote for Obama, “many of them followed too.”

Fazlin, whose known in political circles in Florida to throw fundraisers at his estate, offered to use his home for a fundraiser for Obama.

“The more I met the man, the more I liked him,” he said.

– BY INSIYAH SAEED

Fazal Fazlin discusses his choice for President 2008

Video by Al-Jazeera English

]]> http://theballotbox08.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/st-pete-fla-prominent-republican-is-voting-obama/feed/ 0 insiyah2101 http://theballotbox08.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/background-on-pennsylvania-swing-state/ http://theballotbox08.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/background-on-pennsylvania-swing-state/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:08:49 +0000 jeffotis http://theballotbox08.wordpress.com/?p=832 Continue reading →]]> Pennsylvania has yet again maintained its status of being a swing state in presidential elections.

Four years ago, President George W Bush, who was then seeking re-election on a Republican Party ticket, and Senator John Kerry, the Democratic Party candidate, engaged in a bruising battle for votes in the Keystone state. Numerous polls had earlier indicated that the pivotal state was up for grabs.

Kerry won the election, garnering 2,938,095 (50.92 percent) against Bush’s 2,793,847 (48.42 percent). The contributing factor to Kerry’s victory, was the win he registered in the populated cities of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Erie. In Philadelphia County alone, for example, Kerry whitewashed President Bush, racking up approximately 400,000 more votes than the president, a fact that allowed him to lose other less-populated areas.

Though the cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh made a significant contribution, many liberal Republicans in suburban Philadelphia counties (Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery, and somewhat in Chester) also voted for Kerry, which was considered the deciding factor.

The election results also showed the Democratic Presidential candidate had registered narrow margins of victory around cities like Scranton, Allentown, Scranton, Erie, and Pittsburgh suburbs. President Bush, on the other hand, recorded huge margins in Central Pennsylvania and the Northern Tier. Cities considered GOP home grounds like Huntingdon, Williamsport, Lebanon, York, Lancaster and Altoona, voted overwhelmingly for President Bush.

Senator Kerry won only 12 of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, but the 12 counties had the highest populations in the commonwealth. Many political anaylsts argued that if Philadelphia were to be excluded in the 2004 election, President Bush would have won Pennsylvania by a slim margin.

Majority of the pollsters had predicted a Kerry win of 49 percent of the vote against Bushs’ 47.

However, the Republican Party clinched U.S. senate seat, with Arlen Specter, winning the seat registering 2,890,791 (53 percent) against Joseph Hoeffel’s (Democratic Party) 2,296,379 (42 percent).
In the U.S. House, the Republican Party emerged the winner, once more, clinching 13 seats of the 21 in the swing state.

Despite being a battleground for the votes in the recent elections, historically, the state also referred to as Keystone State has leaned more towards the Democrats. In the last fourteen presidential elections, Pennsylvania has voted more Democratic than the rest of the nation. Analyst, Jay Cost, writing on the realclearpolitics.com
site, says the Democratic tilt on average, for Pennsylvania, has been about 4 percentage points. In 2004, for example, President Bush beat senator Kerry nationwide by 2.4 points, but lost Pennsylvania by 2.5 points, for a Democratic tilt of 4.9 points.

However, it is not always a guarantee that the state will vote for the Democrats, hence giving it the distinctive swing state name.

The only two Republican Party presidential candidates, who have managed to break the jinx are Ronald Reagan who won the popular vote in two consecutive elections in 1980 and 1984 and incumbent President George W Bush in 19988.

Just like in the current election, in 2004, the battle for the state was too close to call, and it was one of the most visited by the two presidential candidates in the run up to the election.

The issues the two candidates campaigned on win votes were economy, healthcare, education and security. The economy topic kept Senator Kerry competitive, as the state that was experiencing economic downturn, while President Bush dwelt more on security, clarity and his leadership qualities.

– BY JEFF OTIENO

Source:

realclearpolitics.com