Connecticut Election Results

For a recount to be made, a candidate would have had to win by 2,000 or fewer votes, thus the Ex-Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut will become the new Governor of Connecticut.

Polls prior to the Connecticut election showed an expected close race, with a slight edge to Republican Tom Foley. However, Malloy looks to have pulled out a minor upset.

While it looks as though Malloy has won the election, Tom Foley has yet to concede the race until his campaign can look over the numbers to come to a conclusion.

Pennsylvania Election

Even the exit polls have not been able to decide a clear cut favorite. In the exit polls, 90% of Democrats voted for Sestak, while 92% of Republicans selected Toomey on their ballots. 54% of Independents chose Toomey, while only 46% chose Sestak. However, the latest Election results have them both extremely close.

Here are the latest election results with 81% of the ballots in.

- Republican Pat Toomey has approximately 50% of the vote with 1,754,338.
- Democrat Joe Sestak has approximately 50% of the vote with 1,728,659.

There are still 19% of the votes that have not been reported, thus this race will probably not officially be decided until Wednesday. It is expected to be extremely close, down to the wire, and either candidate could easily come away as the winner.

Indiana Election Results

The Indiana Polls close at 7:00 P.M. and election results have begun coming in.

Here are the latest results as of 6:52 PM ET with 4% of votes in:
- Dan Coats – Has 52% of the voite with only 4% reported
- Brad Ellsworth – Has 43% of the vote with 4% reported

Coats is looking to become Senator of Indiana, and has been expected by most to be the one who will be elected. He has been in office from 1989 to 1999, and is now looking to get elected again to replace Evan Bayh.

Election Results

There are many places to find the latest 2010 election results and exit polls once they begin to be released. However here are two that we feel are the best.

ABC News Political Division has a nicely formatted “Vote 2010″ page that allows people to see the latest results. They allow you to view results for county data as well. Their site can be found at: http://abcnews.go.com/politics/2010_Elections_All_State_Races

CNN Election Center also has a very useful and easy-to-use website that allows users to find information on exit polls and election results in an easy manner. They allow you to view results simply by mousing-over your state of interest. Their website can be found at: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/main.results/.

On top of these two options, TheNewsOfToday.com will also be giving updated results, so be sure to check back often.

Massachusetts

1. Do you approve of a law summarized below, on which no vote was taken by the Senate or the House of Representatives before May 4, 2010?
“This proposed law would remove the Massachusetts sales tax on alcoholic beverages and alcohol, where the sale of such beverages and alcohol or their importation into the state is already subject to a separate excise tax under state law. The proposed law would take effect on January 1, 2011.”

- A “yes” vote to this question would mean you support removing the additional sales tax that has been implemented on alcohol, while a “no” vote would make no changes.

2. Do you approve of a law summarized below, on which no vote was taken by the Senate or the House of Representatives before May 4, 2010?

“This proposed law would repeal an existing state law that allows a qualified organization wishing to build government-subsidized housing that includes low- or moderate-income units to apply for a single comprehensive permit from a city or town’s zoning board of appeals (ZBA), instead of separate permits from each local agency or official having jurisdiction over any aspect of the proposed housing. The repeal would take effect on January 1, 2011, but would not stop or otherwise affect any proposed housing that had already received both a comprehensive permit and a building permit for at least one unit.

Under the existing law, the ZBA holds a public hearing on the application and considers the recommendations of local agencies and officials. The ZBA may grant a comprehensive permit that may include conditions or requirements concerning the height, site plan, size, shape, or building materials of the housing. Persons aggrieved by the ZBA’s decision to grant a permit may appeal it to a court. If the ZBA denies the permit or grants it with conditions or requirements that make the housing uneconomic to build or to operate, the applicant may appeal to the state Housing Appeals Committee (HAC).

After a hearing, if the HAC rules that the ZBA’s denial of a comprehensive permit was unreasonable and not consistent with local needs, the HAC orders the ZBA to issue the permit. If the HAC rules that the ZBA’s decision issuing a comprehensive permit with conditions or requirements made the housing uneconomic to build or operate and was not consistent with local needs, the HAC orders the ZBA to modify or remove any such condition or requirement so as to make the proposal no longer uneconomic. The HAC cannot order the ZBA to issue any permit that would allow the housing to fall below minimum safety standards or site plan requirements. If the HAC rules that the ZBA’s action was consistent with local needs, the HAC must uphold it even if it made the housing uneconomic. The HAC’s decision is subject to review in the courts.

A condition or requirement makes housing “uneconomic” if it would prevent a public agency or non-profit organization from building or operating the housing except at a financial loss, or it would prevent a limited dividend organization from building or operating the housing without a reasonable return on its investment.

A ZBA’s decision is “consistent with local needs” if it applies requirements that are reasonable in view of the regional need for low- and moderate-income housing and the number of low-income persons in the city or town, as well as the need to protect health and safety, promote better site and building design, and preserve open space, if those requirements are applied as equally as possible to both subsidized and unsubsidized housing. Requirements are considered “consistent with local needs” if more than 10% of the city or town’s housing units are low- or moderate-income units or if such units are on sites making up at least 1.5% of the total private land zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial use in the city or town. Requirements are also considered “consistent with local needs” if the application would result, in any one calendar year, in beginning construction of low- or moderate-income housing on sites making up more than 0.3% of the total private land zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial use in the city or town, or on ten acres, whichever is larger.”

- A “yes” vote would mean you support repealing the law in the state of Massachusetts that allows the issuance of a comprehensive permit to develop housing that includes some low or moderate income units. A “no” vote would mean you don’t want to repeal this law.

3. Do you approve of a law summarized below, on which no vote was taken by the Senate or the House of Representatives before May 4, 2010?

“This proposed law would reduce the state sales and use tax rates (which were 6.25% as of September 2009) to 3% as of January 1, 2011. It would make the same reduction in the rate used to determine the amount to be deposited with the state Commissioner of Revenue by non-resident building contractors as security for the payment of sales and use tax on tangible personal property used in carrying out their contracts.

The proposed law provides that if the 3% rates would not produce enough revenues to satisfy any lawful pledge of sales and use tax revenues in connection with any bond, note, or other contractual obligation, then the rates would instead be reduced to the lowest level allowed by law.

The proposed law would not affect the collection of moneys due the Commonwealth for sales, storage, use or other consumption of tangible personal property or services occurring before January 1, 2011.

The proposed law states that if any of its parts were declared invalid, the other parts would stay in effect.”

- If you vote “yes” to this question, you would like the state sales & use tax to be reduced to only 3%. If you vote “no” the sales and use taxes will remain the same at 6.25%.

These are important questions, so take your time and think hard about how you truly feel on these issues.

Information Regarding Exit Poll Results This Election

As you begin to search online as well as turn on the various live news coverages of this election, you may want to note that there is a quarantine on exit polls which will be lifted at 5:30 PM. Because election officials do not want voters, who are casting their ballots later in the day, to be influenced by exit poll results, they set up this quarantine. The exit poll results will come in three waves. The first and second waves will present only a small fraction of data gathered earlier in the day. The third and final wave of results will only come in after polls have closed. In these, poll sample sizes are over 2,000 and can usually paint a good picture on how each candidate has fared. The first polls will close in Florida at 7 PM EST.

Nevada, Illinois, West Virginia, and Colorado Elections A Toss Up

Some of the races which remain too close to call, according to pre-election polls, are those in Nevada, West Virginia, Illinois, and Colorado. These states will play a vital role in the overall scheme of things in the Senate going forward in the second half of Barack Obama’s term as President.

Provided below is a list of recent polls released today in many of these States in which the election is still a toss up:

Colorado Senate – Fox News/POR-Rasmussen Poll – Buck (R) leads Bennet (D) 50-46
Colorado Senate – Public Policy Polling – Buck (R) leads Bennet (D) 49-48
Nevada Senate – Fox News/POR-Rasmussen Poll – Angle (R) leads Reid (D) 48-45
Nevada Senate – Public Policy Polling – Angle (R) leads Reid (D) 47-46
Illinois Senate – Fox News/POR-Rasmussen Poll – Kirk (R) leads Giannoulias (D) 46-42
Illinois Senate – Public Policy Polling – Kirk (R) leads Giannoulias (D) 46-42
West Virginia Senate – Rasmussen Poll – Manchin (D) leads Raese (R) 50-46
West Virginia – Public Policy Polling – Manchin (D) leads Raese (R) 51-46

Certainly, your votes do count, so make sure you get out there and vote for your favorite candidate, even if you reside in a state with a more lopsided race.

Voting Locations

It’s nice because most cities, towns, and communities make it as easy as possible to vote. This means the poor do not need to find transportation, and the busy don’t have to go out of their ways. A lot of times candidates call homes in their communities to let them know where the closest place to vote is. However, if you did not get a call, and still need to find the closest voting location, Google makes it really simple. They have created a very useful gadget that allows anyone to find out where the nearest voting locations are.

Feel free to use the application below, to find out where you can vote:

Baker & Patrick

The 54-year-old Patrick assumed office in January of 2007, and he looks to fend off Republican Charlie Baker in what will surely be a race that comes down to the wire.

Baker, who has a good amount of political experience, does not have the impressive resume in politics that Patrick does. However he does have experience in business, something that may help him in this year’s election. Baker, a Harvard Graduate was the CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care for 10 years, which was a non-profit health benefits company.

The latest Rasmussen Reports political poll shows Deval Patrick maintaining a slight lead over Charlie Baker. Patrick has the support of 46% of expected voters, while Baker has the support of 44%. These numbers are inching closer. In the October 18 poll, also by Rasmussen Reports, Patrick had a 5 percentage point lead. That has since been reduced a a mere 2 percentage points.

Will Baker’s campaign be able to inch a little closer to Patrick’s? If it can, this years election for Massachusetts Governor will be one that comes down to the final votes.

Crist & Meek

There is word today, that former President Bill Clinton has contacted Democrat Kendrick Meek, to try and see if he would be willing to drop out of the Florida Senate race. Meek says that this is not true, although Clinton did contact him.

“[Bill Clinton] didn’t ask me to drop out of the race,” Meek said to Fox.

Meek is also now accusing Charlie Crist of calling him and trying to get him to drop out of the senate race.

“I told him I’m not getting out of the race. I don’t sell out on the people of Florida,” explained Kendrick Meek.

Whether or not any of this is true, is still up for debate. When Charlie Crist was asked about the story, he said, “I wasn’t trying to get a deal done (get Meek to drop out).”

One can definitely see why Crist would want Meek to drop out of the race though. Meek is a Democrat, while Crist is running as an independent. However, Crist’s main following are democrats.

According to the latest Quinnipiac University Polls, Crist appears to have the support of 19% of Republicans, 51% of Democrats and 43% of independents. At the same time, Marco Rubio only is carrying 6% of Democrats. If Meek were to drop out of the senate race, Crist would most likely receive the 36 percent following that Meek currently has from the Democrats. If this were to happen, Crist would win the election hands down.

However, this isn’t the case. Meek plans on staying in the race. Crist is trailing Marco Rubio 42% to 35%, and that won’t win him the Senate seat.

Can Crist make up the ground prior to the November 2 election, without a Meek dropout? We shall wait and see.