# Most inexplicable election result? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 6, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593 "2002-11-06T19:11:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/1 "2002-11-06T19:11:48Z")
In my town, we had 3 local questions about a third fire station, which has been debated for many years - one issue to build it, one to buy trucks for it, and one to staff it. We voted to build it and buy the trucks, but against funding any firefighters to staff it [Towelie voice] I have _no_ idea what’s going on here. Whaddaya got? ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/2 "2002-11-06T19:42:01Z")
If you build it they will come. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/3 "2002-11-06T20:01:30Z")
Nevada failed to pass the “lighten up or legalize” marijuana initiative. Guess the West isn’t as wild as I thought it was. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/4 "2002-11-06T20:05:32Z")
Didn’t New Mexico fail to approve striking a prohibition against “idiots or insane persons” voting? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/5 "2002-11-06T20:11:34Z")
Perhaps voters believed that sufficient staff existed elsewhere that could be transferred to the new fire station? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/6 "2002-11-06T20:17:01Z")
Well, if they’re gonna let them hold office they oughta let them vote, don’tcha think? ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/7 "2002-11-06T20:55:14Z")
Roy Barnes losing the race for Governor of Georgia. Set aside the fact that this is the first time a Republican will be governor in 130 years. The thing that makes this feel so much out of left field is that no local media spent any time talking about this as a potential upset. People had an idea it would be close (because Roy managed to alienate a lot of varied groups), but to have Perdue win by even a few percentage points is quite astonishing. ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/8 "2002-11-06T22:12:50Z")
Duh!! A volunteer fire department! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/9 "2002-11-06T22:19:22Z")
I was surprised the Marijuana initiative got 39% of the vote. Reefer madness indeed… ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/10 "2002-11-06T22:44:39Z")
**Mullinator** —Yeah, Barnes’ loss is damn perplexing. I’d heard his name tossed around as a potential for the 2004 presidential ticket. I guess that’s out of the question now. Somewhere, though, I got the idea that Barnes was wildly popular. Perhaps it was the Chambliss “that-disabled-veteran-is-soft-on-defense” campaign? Things mostly went normally here in New Jersey. What I think is bizarre is how Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma wound up with Democratic governors. At that rate, why not Utah, too? I also expected Capito to be ousted in West Virginia, but she wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Leap\_of\_Faith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/278dde/32.png) [@Leap\_of\_Faith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leap_of_Faith)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/11 "2002-11-06T22:45:32Z")
New Mexico did indeed vote on a constitutional amendment involving voting rights for “idiots or insane people” I’ll have to go look for a cite if I get a chance, but I remember there being some confusion about how the ballot was worded. The question was whether the amendment was designed to allow more people to have the right to vote, or just to change the wording on the original law to something more definable than “idiots or insane people” As you can probably guess, the original law was an old one. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Nifty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f9ae1b/32.png) [@King\_Nifty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Nifty)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/12 "2002-11-06T23:12:41Z")
I really, really thought Question 9 (marijuana initiative) would pass in Nevada. It had more vocal support than anything else on the ballot. I guess everyone in favor couldn’t get off the couch to vote. \ ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/13 "2002-11-07T00:43:08Z")
Amendment 6 passed in Florida: **no more smoking in non-freestanding bars and restaurants**. 70% of the voters said so, which for me was surprising considering how many smokers there are around here, and after all the tough talk we heard over civil rights and the property rights of small business owners. I was also taken quite unawares by Walter Mondale’s defeat. Historians will note that, largely due to the sudden demise of liberal gadfly Sen. Wellstone, the Republicans managed to snag a pivotal Senate seat in Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/14 "2002-11-07T19:28:16Z")
My take on the Wyoming governor race is that the Republican started slinging mud late in the race, while the Democrat ran a campaign his Mom could be proud of. Enough of the undecided voters (20% in the pre-election polls) went with the nice guy who, incidentally, had passed an FBI background check for his previous job of U.S. Attorney. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-inexplicable-election-result/135593/15 "2002-11-07T20:37:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Duality \* > \*\*My take on the Wyoming governor race is that the Republican started slinging mud late in the race, while the Democrat ran a campaign his Mom could be proud of. \*\* I always thought Wyoming was a Republican strong hold.