No.
Oh GHOD, NO.
Why won’t this end.
Iowa just announed that due to broken counting machines and other delays they won’t have a final count today.
as for Ohio, well that looks like it’s gonna drag out as well. Looks like I can go to bed then 
Why are provisional ballots bad? Many voters will be able to vote who would otherwise be laid low by clerical errors or red tape.
Provisional ballots are the only hope we have. So, I say YES to provisional ballots. GO PROVISIONAL BALLOTS GO.
Fuckers won’t let it end. They just won’t let it end.
Muad’Dib, the provisional ballots are required by national law. The people that had to use them deserve to have their votes counted. I work with a woman that had to use one because the Board of Elections had her husband’s change of address, but for some reason didn’t have hers. This is precisely the kind of situation the ballots are supposed to be used for. And those ballots should be counted. If Kerry is smart, they will wait for that to happen, then accept whatever the results are.
Not when there’s still votes to count. But hey, nice to see that believing every legitimate vote should count makes someone a “fucker.” I bet you’d be thinking the same thing if your candidate was behind and there were still hundreds of thousands of votes to count and validate. “No, we won’t count those votes, just let the other guy have it. We don’t want to be a bunch of fuckers.”
Signed, a fucker
Dude, there is no way, no honest statistical way that those ballots could push Kerry over. They are panicing and don’t care who they drag with them. “One more night” my ass.
Right now, CNN is saying there is about a 130,000 vote lead for W. And there are between 200,000 and 300,000 provisional ballots to be counted. The odds are Bush will win, but it is certainly possible for Kerry to make up the difference. And it will not be one more night if they wait for the Ohio ballots. They are not allowed to count them for 11 days. :eek:
Lok
What the fuck are provisional ballots?
If it takes eleven days, it takes eleven days.
Waiting a little over one measly week to decide the fate of the next four years is a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
I’m Rick James, bitch!
It seems unlikely that Kerry would gain enough on Bush, even if the provisional ballots lean in his favor. They’d have to lean in his favor by, like, a lot, and it’s statistically very, very, very doubtful that it’ll happen.
But. It ain’t over 'til it’s over. Counting the ballots is not a bad thing, after all.
Contesting repeatedly and suing and making a big stink against impossible odds (which I’m not saying has happened yet, or will happen) is another thing completely. That, I think, would be pretty shitty. I hope it doesn’t come to that.
As a Kerry voter who has already accepted defeat [perhaps even before punching my ballot card], I would still like for the provisional ballots to be counted. I’m not expecting them to push “my” candidate over the edge, by any means, but come on: isn’t it best to be sure who won?
I know you Bush folks are itching to declare an unequivocal victory. But have a little patience, be sure you won fair and square, and then begin the unrestrained relishing. Please?
More than half of those ballots will never be counted. This election’s over. I’m NOT happy about the results, but we really need to just suck wind and get on with things.
Fuck.
Well, government red tape is a nightmare; think about the last time you went to the DMV. It’s like that, but for voting - you find out (too late to remedy through the normal channels) that something is fucked up in their records re: your vote - something doesn’t match something in some database somewhere, or some address they have on file is outdated, or etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. You’re still allowed to vote, but you have to cast a “provisional ballot” - which means you vote anyway, and it’s up to them to later examine that vote and realize it was legit and should be counted.
Provisional ballots are paper ballots cast by people who for some reason or another couldn’t complete the normal voting method eg. Touchpad broke, voter was challenged and couldn’t deal with the challenge satisfactorily on the spot and on and on.
There are many reasons why these ballots were cast. A talking head on CNN said that the last time prov. ballots were counted 90% of them were found to be valid.
If Bush’s lead is not greater than the provisional votes they need to be counted. By law they can’t do that for 11 days.
No courts or anything like that just the law and the counting of votes.
Just for the record, stop spreading disinfo re: “there arne’t enough provisional ballots to close the margin.” The margin is currently around 100,000 votes. There are (it’s unclear) between 200,000 and 600,000 provisional ballots that were cast that have not been counted - which is more than enough to close the gap.
Also; absentee ballots have not been counted yet.
I’ve been hearing the number 200,000 in regards to provisional ballots in Ohio. Don’t if that’s accurate. Don’t know about the absentee ballots either.
The latest update on CNN has 99% of the precincts in, with Bush ahead by approx. 144,000 votes. Apparently the talking heads say that the odds that Kerry can overcome that lead with the few votes that are left to be counted (including provisional, etc.) is extremely remote.
I guess it could happen, though. I haven’t done the math. I guess if Kerry got 90% of the yet uncounted votes he could get Ohio, but that doesn’t seem likely, does it?
But, counting the votes is good. No harm in counting.
Freejooky, don’t know anything about the numbers. I am guessing that the pointed heads who are saying that Kerry doesn’t have much of a shot at Ohio are making assumptions on the odds based on past history of the areas that haven’t been counted, how many provisional votes there are and what part of the state they are from (if they know that), how absentee ballots generally slant, and so forth.
It doesn’t look good for Kerry from all that they say, but counting is good. No harm in counting.