Oregon Election

For the Oregon Senate Race, Democrat Ron Wyden looks to have defeated Republican Jim Huffman. With 95% of the election votes reported, Wyden leads Huffman with 56% of the vote to Huffman’s 40%. Ron Wyden will hold onto his current senate seat for another term.

In the Oregon Governor Race, things are a lot closer. CNN is reporting that Republican Chris Dudley is leading Democrat John Kitzhaber with 637,508 votes to Kitzhaber’s 622,952. These results are based on only 89% of the votes that have been reported. However Google is now reporting that 96% of the votes are in and Dudley leads Kitzhaber with 49% of the votes to Kitzhaber’s 48%. It still isn’t official, but it appears as though the Republican, Dudley will become the next Governor of Oregon.

Stay tuned to Thenewsoftoday for the latest 2010 Election Results as they come in.

Washington Election

As of right now – 7:08 AM Local time in Washington State, here are the Election results for U.S. Senate:

- Democrat Patty Murray is leading with approximately 50% of the votes with a total of 722,396.

- Republican Dino Rossi is barely trailing Murray with approximately 50% of the votes with a total of 708,391.

There are currently only 65% of the votes in so this race will come down to the wire.

As for the Washington exit polls, 46% of males supported Murray, while 52% supported Rossi. 55% of females supported Murray, while only 44% supported Rossi.

Democrats in the exit polls supported Murray 96% of the time, whereas Republicans favored Rossi 95% of the time. Where the race may be won is with the independents. The exit polls show that independent voters supported Rossi 57% of the time, whereas they only supported Murray 40% of the time.

Who will win this years U.S. Senate Seat in Washington? Stay tuned to TheNewsofToday for more election results as they come in.

Nancy Pelosi Loses House Control After Election Results Come In

In early projections this morning, The Republican party is projected to have at least 239 seats in the House, while Democrats have been projected to win at least 184 seats. This means that only 12 seats are still up for grabs, making it impossible for Democrats to hold on to the majority. A party only needs 218 seats in the House of Representatives to control it, signifying that Republicans will now be in control for the next two years under Democratic President Back Obama.

This also means that Nancy Pelosi will no longer hold her position as Speaker of the House, likely giving it up to Ohio Republican, John Boehner. As this changing of power takes place in the House, there is now doubt that Pelosi will even stay on as House Minority Leader. Nancy Pelosi assumed office as Speaker in 2007, and is the 60th person to hold such office. The 70 year old from California’s 8th Congressional District was the first female to lead the House of Representatives in the History of the United States.

Kentucky Election Results

The latest results after only 3% of the results have been reported show Republican Rand Paul in the lead over Democrat Jack Conway. Paul is leading with 55% of the votes over Conway with 45% of the votes ).

Paul is the favorite by most to win the Senate seat. He is running to replace incumbent Jim Bunning, also a Republican. However, it is still way too early to determine a possible winner since 99% of the votes have not yet been reported. Stay tuned for further updates.

2010 Early Election Results Begin Coming In

Alabama, 7:00 pm
Alaska, 8:00 pm
Arizona 7:00 pm
Arkansas 7:30 pm
California, 8:00 pm
Colorado, 7:00 pm
Connecticut, 8:00 pm
Delaware, 8:00 pm
District of Columbia, 8:00 pm
Florida, 7:00 pm
Georgia, 7:00 pm
Hawaii, 6:00 pm
Idaho, 8:00 pm
Illinois, 7:00 pm
Indiana, 6:00 pm
Iowa, 9:00 pm
Kansas, 8:00 pm
Kentucky, 6:00 pm
Louisiana 8:00 pm
Maine, 8:00 pm
Maryland, 8:00 pm
Massachusetts, 8:00 pm
Michigan, 7:00 pm
Minnesota, 8:00 pm
Mississippi, 7:00 pm
Missouri, 7:00 pm
Montana, 8:00 pm
Nebraska, 8:00 pm
Nevada, 7:00 pm
New Hampshire, 8:00 pm
New Jersey, 8:00 pm
New Mexico, 7:00 pm
New York, 9:00 pm
North Carolina, 7:30 pm
North Dakota, 9:00 pm
Ohio, 7:30 pm
Oklahoma, 7:00 pm
Oregon, 8:00 pm
Pennsylvania, 8:00 pm
Rhode Island, 9:00 pm
South Carolina, 7:00 pm
Tennessee, 7:00 pm
Texas, 7:00 pm
Utah, 8:00 pm
Vermont, 7:00 pm
Virgin Islands, 7:00 pm
Virginia, 7:00 pm
Washington, 8:00 pm
West Virginia, 7:30 pm
Wisconsin, 8:00 pm
Wyoming, 7:00 pm

If you are looking for early election results, you should not count on exit polls, as they are often skewed towards one political end, and often are inaccurate. Some of the best coverage of voting results are usually done by CNN as well as MSNBC, however there are now many great websites out there like the Huffington Post which has been providing amazing coverage of the 2010 elections thus far.

Massachusetts Election

The reason for the lack of exit polls, is because the election in the state of Massachusetts had appeared to be blowout. Martha Coakley had a 15 point lead over Republican Scott Brown in January.

As for the Gubernatorial race in Massachusetts, Deval Patrick had appeared to have the race wrapped up, even as recently as September. However, things have become a lot closer with polls from the end of October showing only a 2-5 percentage point lead for the Democrat.

In order for residence of Massachusetts to get a good idea of who will win their respective races, they must wait until the polls close and official election results begin to get announced. There will be no reliable predictions this year.

Will The Democratic Party Hold On To The Senate?

The states of Washington, Alaska, Illinois, and Colorado, are being considered toss up states because the elections for Senators in each of those states are extremely close. If the Republicans can win all 4 of these states, they will have an excellent shot at winning control of the Senate. If the Democrats win one, and the Republicans three, a split Senate is likely.

While it’s looking better for Democratic candidate Murray in Washington State, Illinois and Colorado are seemingly favoring the Republican candidates. Alaska is a true toss up, possibly going to the write-in candidate Murkowski. If Joe Miller, a Sarah Palin Tea Party candidate, can pull out a victory in that state, the Republicans just may have a shot Election coverage later tonight should certainly be interesting, as Democrats and Republicans likely will be biting their nails until the final polls close.

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.

Register to Vote

Voter registrations take time to be validated, approved and handed out. County and state offices all over the country have been receiving phone calls today from individuals who forgot to, or put off the voter registration process, yet want to vote in today’s election.

Most states have websites that allow people fill out forms and become registered voters. However states all require that you register prior to election day. Most states require that you register to vote at least 10-30 days prior to the election. Some states like Connecticut are more lenient. For citizens of Connecticut, they could have registered to vote as late as yesterday, and still be able to vote in today’s election.

Make sure you remember to register prior to the 2012 election if you hope to make your voice count.

NC Board Of Elections Sued

Officials in North Carolina will have to notify voters of this situation and make sure they report any problems that have been occurring in regard to the possibly malfunctioning touch-screen interfaces of the voting machines. The NC Republican Party filed a complaint because they claim that NC Board of Elections officials have somewhat ignored the issues, and have not taken the appropriate action to rectify them.

The NC Board of Elections claims that the issues were not widespread, and that only a few people had reported having trouble, however the Republican Party refutes these claims, stating that several counties have experienced the problems related to the touch-screens. If you are a North Carolina voter and facing any problems while casting your vote today, please immediately let the officials at your voting location know.