Unofficially, AI has learned that Republicans and Democrats are in agreement that Jon Elrod (R) has ousted long-time State Rep. Ed Mahern (D) in Indianapolis' District 97. While the clerk's office has yet to track down those missing memory cards from about 66 precincts, party workers were able to provide printouts of vote results in those missing races. In the case of the 97th District, the unofficial results put Elrod up about 60 votes, a large enough lead to survive any recount. There is a bit of irony in Elrod's victory. Mahern was the person who master-minded the House Democrats legislative map which gerrymandered the districts to heavily favor Democrats. Apparently, he didn't do a good enough job drawing the boundaries of his own district.Of the 66 missing precinct vote totals, 27 were from precincts involving close election contests. The missing precincts could affect close township outcomes in Wayne, Warren and Lawrence townships. The missing precincts may account for as much as 12% of Marion County's total vote in yesterday's election. The prosecutor's race turned out to be much closer than many had anticipated with Brizzi edging Kennedy by a 52-48% margin. Some Republicans believe that the missing precincts are holding down the Republican vote. It could also mean that the race for 7th District Congress between Rep. Julia Carson (D) and Eric Dickerson (R) was actually closer than the 54-46% margin reported, though the ultimate outcome probably wouldn't have changed. Unless you know the total number of votes cast in each of those precincts, however, it is difficult to say. Theoretically, there are tens of thousands of votes yet to be counted.
The person who must bear responsiblity for this mix-up is County Clerk Doris Ann Sadler (R). AI has been told that in past elections the clerk's office had a checklist of items poll workers were required to turn in when they delivered their materials to the election center after the polls closed. If those procedures had been followed, it would have been apparent that the memory cards for these 66 precincts were missing. Why did Sadler not require this simple procedure to be followed when poll workers arrived at the election center? I don't agree with Ed Treacy on much, but he's correct to say it represents "malfeasance in office" at a minimum. Sadly, Sadler tells WTHR that this happens every election; it just isn't noticed unless there's a close election. I don't believe this happened during Sarah Taylor's tenure, but a lot changed in that office after Sadler took over from her, and that's generally not been for the good.
31 comments:
AI-
Just an FYI, it appears that many of the "missing" cards are from D-leaning precincts, so, the argument that they are holding now Republican turnout doesn't hold water. Many are in center township. Look for a D-swing, a narrowing (although not a change in result) in the MCPO race, as well as a slight widening in the down-ticket races.
Dude, why don't you try running elections & managing the "general public" while at it, then get back to us w/ the criticism.
Maybe after the last vote is finally counted, Eric Dickerson will graciously concede. Actually, the Indiana Secretary of State will issue the Certificate of Election to Julia Carson and the U.S. House without regard to ED's opinion on the matter.
Wilson, the Elrod campaign owes you a big thanks. You running off your mouth about how you and the Maherns were plotting to knock off Scott Keller with another Mahern family member in next year's city council race helped some members of the community who like Keller a lot make up their minds in this race. Loose lips sink ships.
6:55, if you work in that office, you'd better be able to stand the criticism. This shameful turn of events is disgusting.
This clerk presided over the purchase of these machines, and multiple legal entanglements over the vendor's effectiveness.
This is the same clerk who pursued a lawsuit over City Council district lines. And ballot design vis-a-vis straight ticket voting.
She lost both lawsuits. We lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees on lawsuits of questionable validity.
Doris Ann Sadler has been a hack for the Rep. leadership in this county. Beth White's election was a long time coming.
As for Ms. Taylor--she was nice, but she was really just Faye Mowery with a smile. Another partisan officehodler trying too hard to hold on to a slipping-from-power Republican machine.
Anon 6:46, I think you'll find Brizzi ran well in Wayne, Warren, Lawrence and in the south where a number of these precincts were located.
AI, is there no gay-friendly Democratic office-holder you wont attack? You and Eric Miller make quite the GOP tag-team nowadays!
All the above aside, you really need to give credit to Jon Elrod. The effort he put forth in getting out in the neighborhoods was pretty remarkable--knocking on doors, sending multiple, personalized, handwritten thank-you notes, getting signs up in yards. He did an excellent job of getting his name out. I definitely tend D, but I was certainly impressed.
So Scott Keller doesn't count in your mind, Wilson, because he's a Republican?
Giv e up, Gary.
Wilson is fried, dried and laid to the side.
He's irrelevant.
As I said: AI specializes in attacking Democratic gay-friendly officeholders. Keller is the only gay-friendly and supportive Republican on the Council or Legislature. Are any other GOP officials ever at Gay Pride? All the elected allies of LGBT people locally are Democrats both in the Legislature and the Council -- these are the people AI gleefullly and wantonly attacks. Like I said: AI and Eric Miller make a great GOP tag team!
7:03, do some research. Doris Anne had nothing to do with the selection of the voting machines. The contract was signed before she even took office.
Doris Anne did not pursue a lawsuit in either of the cases you sighted. The Election Board was sued by the Democratic Party. Doris Anne was not even the Chairman of the Election Board.
Come on you can do better than this can't you?
Wrong again Wilson. There's a long list of Rs that David Wene has posted at various times which completely contradicts your assertion. I don't have the time or desire to argue with you further about it, except to state the obvious: You are such a hypocrite.
I really like Mahern and I hope he can still pull this one out but he took his district for granted and got lazy. He didn't start campaigning until Elrod had him against the wall.
I was constantly bombarded with Elrod ads, including attack ads on Mahern (and if attack ads didn't work, politicians wouldn't use them) Also, Elrod reached out to the GLBT and went on record as opposing the marriage amendment.
Mahern's record on GLBT rights speaks for itself and thats why I voted for him but he was simply out campaigned this time.
As far as my irrelevancy goes, my 3 main candidates (Carson, Breaux and Drummer) all won handily. Dickerson, the Hero of the AnonyMice, lost decisively.
This morning I started working on 2 upcoming campaigns. Although I'm retired, I do keep busy!
Yo, Jon Elrod is a cutie.
Where is he on gay marriage amendment? Is the anonymous poster correct that he is on record against the gay marriage amendment? Here's hoping as looks like he's my new Rep. How's about he and Brizzi get together (wait, I'm getting distracted. . . .) on that hate crimes law Carl was supposed to help out on, now that Bosma has been dethroned. That might be a good first step for Jon toward reelection in this community. It's never too early!
Jon has said he opposed the constitutional amendment.
Jon also refused to answer any questions either in writing or verbally from GIFA for its LGBT Voters Guide. I wonder how Eric Miller rated Elrod?
Well, 7:58, here ARE the facts:
The Election Board, by a 2-1 Republican party line vote, decided to alter the ballot for the 03 municipals. It was blatantly illegal and improper, designed to give Republicans a distinct advantage. Dems sued and won.
If Doris Ann had any legal sense, she'd have known this was a loser in court. But the Election Board insisted. Dems would've settled if the offensive ballot design were altered.
The other lawsuit involved council district lines, and it took a state court to overrule the ridiculous findings of Judge Bradford (which they did, handily, with a scolding for him being volved when his brother was on the ballot, AND involved on the wrong side).
In each case, the 2-1 Republican Election Board could easily have given in, but it took the Dems taking her to court to get the right thing done.
And the machine contract was let after she took office, altho her predecessor wrote the specs and Doris Ann was heavily-involved.
Wilson,
in the interest of fairness, while Elrod did not answer the survey, neither did Mahern.
Mahern has a lengthy record of LGBT-friendly votes and statements - Elrod is still a pig-in-a-poke.
I checked Eric Miller's Voters Guide - out of a possible 10, Elrod got one point for supporting Millers new pet cause: eradicating property taxes. Mahern got zip of course - it looks like both ignored Millers questionnaire.
Lest it be forgotten: Eric Miller, like this blog, rated Dickerson highly on their issues.
Advance:
Democrats may have won some offices on Tuesday, we will see how well they can handle the concerns of the people over the next four years in Indiana and Washington. The shoe is on the other foot now. No excuses will be accepted in 2008,2010 elections.
Voters made the right choice with Rokita and Brizzi's re-election, two of my choices.
Voters were smart enough to re-elect a Republican prosecutor and Secretary of State who will keep the Democrats honest and in line.
Being tough on crime, experienced with results do matter.
Bye! Bye! Bart's Meliar your attack ads failed!
8:41, The ballot layout was not altered in 2003. Marion County used that layout on all paper ballots for the last 50 years. (Paper ballots were created for every election for use when the lever machines broke down.) It was also the same ballot layout that was used for the 2003 election in the other counties that used optical scanning technology that year. If the layout was so offensive, why did the Democratic memeber of the Election Board vote to change back to that style in the 2004 General Election?
Your beef with the council district lines is with Bradford not Sadler.
The voting machinces were selected by a bipartisian panel created by Sarah Taylor. You cannot blame Doris Anne for selection of the voting machines. Get a copy of the contract. Doris Anne's name doesn't appear anywhere on it. Mayor Peterson signed it. Hmmm maybe he is to blame?
"Wilson is fried, dried and laid to the side"
*SPLORF* Pepsi -> Nose -> Monitor
OK if that doesn't give anyone disgusting mental images ...
*shudder*
Am I the nly voter who will forever wonder what the real vote totals were this year, due to Doris Ann Sadler's office's screwups?
How can anyone have any faith in the totals?
That "dog ate my homework" excuse doesn't fly. Multiple races were really close, and candidates on both sides of the aisle deserve better.
We have a municipal primary in six months. Can we be sure it will be well-run? The new clerk will just have taken office. Democrats now have Inspectors for four years, if the SOS race totals hold up.
Maybe the Dems inherited a nightmare?
Robert Vane left just in time.
We have a municipal primary in six months. Can we be sure it will be well-run?
No. It'll be like all the other elections.
The process is complicated by procedures for working with spoiled and provisional ballots, combined with people who can't read simple instructions .. "fill in the oval". Even a elementary school student taking ISTEP knows how to fill in ovals. Apparently the excuse for a Congressperson isn't quite up on that concept.
I hate to break the ice, but the results aren't in for the Elrod/Mahern race.
The HAVA machines have not been tallied yet, and at several precincts, including mine, the election officials gave people the choice of voting on the optical scan machine or the touch screen.
Without the absentees, provisionals and HAVE counts, Mahern is 65 votes down.
Sorry Jen, Howey is reporting the same thing. Let Mahern conduct a recount.
are the results certified? isn't that the gig?
Bob, obviously they aren't certified yet. None of the election results will be certified until next week. That didn't stop candidates from declaring victory based on announced results here, Virginia, Montana, etc.
Advance;
Each one of the candidates should be commended for being brave enough to sacriface their time and energy to come before the public and be raked over to get a vote.
Some voters need to learn that losing an election for public office is not the end of the world. It is an opportunity to actively participate in the decison-making process of our government.
Each candidate who dares to run is a winner. Candidates meet interesting people, make new friends and have so many rewarding experiences on the campaign trial. There can be only one winner per race.
Ignorance prevails when outside observers like Wilson Allen attempt to brand and label people for trying. Cowards sit on the sideline and criticize the ones who do try. Some of them will win a second time around.
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