Congressional Elections

We are now less than a month away from Election Day in the United States. Whereas in Britain, we minimise the number of different elections on the same day - in the US, voters can face a barrage of different electoral contests. Obviously, there is no presidential election this year - but every voter has a chance to elect, at least, a member of the House of Representatives. About a third of states will also have an election for their Senator - and there may be various State and local elections to vote on too.

This blog will highlight the Congressional Elections. So in the next month, I'll be posting about some of the individual races.

If you'd like to see a sample ballot - click here. This is what voters in Fairfax County, Virginia - in the 10th Congressional District will see - or to be more accurate - what they can already see. Already voters can go to the polls with "In-Person Absentee Voting".

Election Day

The day has finally arrived. The Iowa caucuses seem such a long time ago - and the long run up to them as various Republicans positioned themselves to take on President Obama. In fact it seems that this election has been running for the last four years. But finally election day 2012 is here.

Yesterday saw a remarkable operation run from our office. Voters were contacted on the phone or in person on their doorsteps. They were reminded of their polling station and the new requirements for voter ID. Volunteers sat in every available chair using landlines, campaign supplied mobiles and their own "cellphones". When there were no seats left, people sat on the floor. Canvassers were dispatched to a number of centres around the Fairfax county area. From high school students (yesterday was a school holiday) to retirees, volunteers flooded in and were set to work.

As I write this in bed (it's not yet 04-30), work is underway in Huntington and hundreds of offices around the country to get today's operation underway. Polls open at 6-00 in Virginia. They will close at 7pm. Then afterwards the results will be awaited. Unlike in the UK, there is no central place where candidates of all parties and their supporters attend 'the count'. Instead results are phoned in from each of the counts at every polling station. The candidates will be based at their own Headquarters. Many of my colleagues who have been working on the Tim Kaine campaign will be heading down to Richmond, where the Democratic senatorial candidate will await the result along with his supporters. I'll remain in North Virginia to follow the national, state and local results. It's going a long day and night - and I'll be getting up in just 15 minutes! At five....

The good news - and the bad news...

The good news is that that I am entering the final stretch writing up my Ph.D. Finally the reading; the interviewing and the thinking are coming together into a single structured paper (well a very long paper!). Soon I’ll be submitting, what I hope is a readable draft.


The bad news is that it has meant that I’ve not been able to keep the Washminster posts flowing. (I hope you noticed!)

The good news is that Washminster is about to enter a new exciting period. I’ll be posting from Labour Party Conference. Because I will also be continuing to hone the Ph.D. paper, I will sadly be foregoing the pictures to accompany posts – and they may be a little raw – but I hope that you’ll enjoy the eye witness account; description and explanation of this annual politics-fest.

Then I’ll be back to the full time work on the Ph.D. and prep for the next “adventure”, which is my visit to Virginia for the last couple of weeks of the Presidential; Senate & House races in that great state. As in 2008, I hope to be posting frequently and fully while I’ll there.

So please keep visiting the Washminster blog. I’ll also be tweeting on ‘jdm_progressive’ during this period.

David

Springtime in Virginia

The view from the home I am staying in

Super Tuesday

Once again, it's "Super Tuesday" in the USA. The day upon which a number of States have their presidential primaries or caucuses. In an ideal world (if you are hoping that "your" party will win the November election) - the nomination will be sown up on, or by this day. Of course this hasn't happened for the Republicans this year.

The States where the action will be are -

Alaska - caucus
Georgia - Primary
Idaho - Caucus
Massachusetts - Primary
North Dakota - Caucus
Ohio - Primary
Oklahoma - Primary
Tennessee - Primary
Vermont - Primary
Virginia - Primary

The important thing to remember is that each state has different rules. Some are open, others are only for registered Republican voters. The results are binding in all of today's caucuses - though some earlier ones (such as last Saturday's caucus in Washington State), are non-binding. In some states the delegates will be allocated proportionally to the number of votes cast, while in certain circumstances - it changes to 'winner take all'. In some States not all candidates have been able to get on the ballot paper (Virginia only has Romney and Paul - the VA rules can be found here.). It's an evening for either sitting there with the detailed rules for each state Republican party - or letting the experts explain who gets what. (Even then the experts can differ - which explains why different websites have different figures for the numbers of delegates won by each candidate).

Virginia

Next Tuesday it will be election day in the USA.

Of course this year the elections are not as high profile. 2012 will see a Presidential election; the whole House of Representatives will be up for election; and one third of the Senate.

This year however there is only one Federal election - a primary for the special election in Oregon's 1st Congressional District (The special election (by-election) will be held on 31st January). There are Gubernatorial elections (for the State Governor) in Mississippi and Kentucky - and a handful of States have State and Municipal elections.

Virginia has State Legislative elections (General Assembly) and local elections - further details can be found at the website of the Virginia State Board of Elections ( http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Index.html). My particular interest is in the Stratford Landing, Mount Vernon area of Fairfax County - where votes are to be cast for

Virginia Senate, 36th District (1)
Virginia House of Delegates, 44th District (1)
Commonwealth's Attorney (1)
Sheriff (1)
Chairman, Board of Supervisors, Fairfax County (1)
Member (Mt Vernon), Board of Supervisors (1)
School Board (at large) (3)
School Board (Mt Vernon) (1)
Soil & Water Conservation Area Director (Northern Virginia District) (3)

and the School Bonds referendum ("Shall the Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a debt, borrow money, and issue capital improvement bonds in the maximum aggregate principal amount of  $252,750,000 for the purposes of providing funds, in addition to funds from school bonds previously authorized and any other available funds, to finance, including reimbursement to the County for temporary financing for, the costs of school improvements, including acquiring, building, expanding and renovating properties, including new sites, new buildings or additions, renovations and improvements to existing buildings, and furnishings and equipment, for the Fairfax County public school system?"

For further details of precincts and candidates press here.

Election Day

Once again it's the "Tuesday after the first Monday in November". The New York Times explained why that date had become "Election Day" in an article published on 1st November 1910 -

"The State of New York in 1841 was the first to adopt "Tuesday after the first Monday in November" as its election day. Most of the States at that time held their elections on the first Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday in November. The congressional act of March 1, 1792, had prescribed that elections for Presidential electors be held "within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December, every fourth year."... The quadrennial election day was made uniform after a act was passed in 1845. Originally the date was to be the first Tuesday in November - but this amended when it was realised that the 1792 act would also need to be amended because, in some years the first Tuesday in November would be outside the 34 day period."

Elections are being held today in

California 10th District - Special Election for House of Representatives seat.

New York 23rd District - Special Election for House of Representatives seat.

New Jersey - gubernatorial and General Assembly elections.

Virginia - gubernatorial and House of Delegates elections.

There are also gubernatorial and state legislature elections in the Northern Mariana Islands (a terrority) and numerous municipal elections throughout the USA.

I will of course, as ever, be watching the results in Fairfax County, Northern Virginia (from the UK - but I'll check online the following morning - I don't intend to stay up all night watching as I have in the past! - I have to be in Westminster early on Wednesday). You can see a sample ballot for Virginia's District 44 here.

A Temporary Vacancy

Representative Tom Davis announced that he would not contest the 11th District of Virginia in this month's elections. As a result, the Northern Virginia seat which he represented for almost 14 years, became an open seat, which was won by Gerry Connolly for the Democrats.

Last Friday he announced that he would leave Congress immediately, in order to start his new career at Deloitte Consulting in their federal government services division. Representative-Elect Connolly will not take his seat until the 11th Congress begins at noon on January 3rd. In the meantime the Clerk of the House will manage Davis’ former office .

Virginia House of Delegates

The oldest legislature in the new world is considered to be the Virginia House of Delegates. It can be traced back to 1619 when the Virginia House of Burgesses first met in Jamestown. Chairman of the Minority Caucus, Brian Moran, explained the role of the House



Further details of the House and the Senate - which together make up the Virginia General Assembly - can be found at http://legis.state.va.us/

Results - by the Precinct

Television coverage of the results will focus on the State level - who will win the electoral votes for the Presidency; Senate and District (House of Representatives) races and so on. But if you want the detailed figures - at the precinct (uk equivalent - "ward" or "parish") level the results will be posted by the appropriate election board.

Fairfax County, VA: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/eb/returns.htm

Alameda County, CA: http://www.acgov.org/rov/current_election/index.htm

Multnomah County, OR: http://mcelections.org/2008-11/results.shtml

Travis County, TX: http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20081104/results.asp

The Manassas Rally

I had the great privilege of attending the rally in Virginia on election eve. These are the videos taken during the evening

Sample Ballots

So what does the ballot look like? Below are sample ballots from a number of places in the USA (I selected these because of my own connections)

Alexandria, VA: http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/elections/info/2008NovFullUnofficialSample(1).pdf

Fairfax County, VA ( VA 11 district): http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/eb/OS_Sample%20Ballot%20Style3.pdf

Northampton, MA: http://www.northamptonma.gov/cityclerk/uploads/listWidget/6771/Specimen%20Ballot-November%204,%202008.pdf

Rugby, ND: http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/xml/abtus/ourorg/aud/Elections/Archives/gen08/vpweb.pdf (pages 13-16)

Signs

I took the video camera with me as we drove through Stratford Landing - the area I'm staying in, which is about a mile from Mount Vernon, the estate of George Washington





Today I've been out in Alexandria - trying (successfully each time!) to persuade supporters to let us replace their yard signs (16 inches by 26 inches) by bigger ones - eight foot by four foot! Later we went along the medians (central reservation) of one of the main streets putting up ordinary size yard signs. A deposit is required for the licence to put signs there (which is forfeited if any of the rules - and they are quite precise and complex in terms of size of sign and how many feet from official signs). I helped make Eisenhower Avenue very decorative.

Election Meeting - Comments by VA House of Delegates member, Brian Moran

At the election meeting at Cora Kelly Recreational Center, the audience heard remarks from Brian Moran - the brother of Congressman Jim Moran, and a member of Virginia's House of Delegates. More information on Brian Moran can be found at http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/b9d1ff441cd43fbc85256c23006d3f87/6be92fbb48bbe5db852570d2005e9e8c?OpenDocument

Election Meeting

On Saturday afternoon I attended an election meeting in the Cora Kelly Recreation Center, Alexandria. I recorded this video of one of the speeches made there.

10.30pm EDT (Oct 30th) Northern Virginia

Another busy day. This time I was based in the Victory Virginia Offices - where I was telephoning voters to find out their voting intentions. I was struck at the low numbers of people I actually got to speak to. Only about 1 in 6 calls were answered - all the others were either wrong numbers (quite a low proportion compared to my experience in the UK) or voicemail/ansafone cut in. I guess Americans, due to the higher levels of sales calls,use this more as a filter. However this was about the same success rate as I noted in the 2004 election. On my way home I made a short video -

6 AM EDT Northern Virginia

The half hour 'infomercial' by Obama was broadcast last night. It cost millions. Overnight I got another email from the Obama asking for a $5 donation (about £3.50) - small enough to be tempting -and successful in the large sums raised by these small but frequent requests. [and NO, I haven't donated - it would be againgst the law]

Early voting is in full swing. In Fairfax County, Virginia you can vote 'in person absentee' from 15th October to 1st November - 8am to 8pm at the Office of Elections and 1pm to 8pm at satellite locations on Mondays to Fridays. On Saturday the times are 9am-5pm at all locations. In Virginia you have to have a valid reason (though the reasons are wide and fairly easy to meet). Some states allow absentee voting as of right.

17.30 EDT Mount Vernon

I've returned from a day in a Democratic office in Alexandria. There is great anticipation, as well as a lot of hard work going on in preparation for election day. Most volunteers I spoke with had already voted. Under the law of Virginia, if you meet certain criteria you can vote early or by post. At the metro station on the way home volunteers were handing out leaflets about voting early.

In today's Washington Post there are articles comparing Obama and McCain's proposals on Healthcare reform. I have to say, as a British subject - who is diabetic and has a strong family history of heart disease, I'm glad to have the National Health Service. I was diagnosed because I was routinely (and without cost to me) tested by the new doctor I registered with when I moved to Rugby. The government has provided extra money for such testing. My medicines for the condition are provided on prescription (which are free for diabetics). It's reassuring that should I fall victim to serious illness, neither I nor my family would need to worry about the massive cost of treatment. I'm free to choose which doctor to register with,

06.00 EDT Mount Vernon, VA

Just before 6am I saw the first political ads of the day. A long one from Obama setting out his plan; a shorter one from McCain contrasting himself and Obama. Yesterday Obama was in Virginia - in fact all members of both the tickets have been visiting the state regularly. Virginians aren't used to this level of presidential campaigning - but for the first time in years it is a swing state.

I'm off later this morning to one of the campaign offices in Arlington

VA 11

Perhaps the most interesting place to be this election season is the Eleventh District of Virginia. Not only is the State of Virginia in play for the Presidential Election (with 13 Electoral College votes); but the Senate seat, currently held by John Warner, a moderate Republican, will be open. The Cook Political Report on 31st July called it as "Likely Democratic". The 11th District will also be an Open Seat, with the retirement of Tom Davis. Cook listed this on 7th August as "Leans Democratic". This November offers the voters of this increasingly marginal seat an opportunity to replace three Republicans with three Democrats. In 2004 Bush gained 51% of the vote and Kerry 49%.

VA11 includes part of Fairfax and Prince William Counties and the City of Fairfax. Many residents work in Washington DC - either directly for the Federal Government (Executive; Legislative and Judicial branches) or for private companies linked to government. It has the highest Asian population in Virginia (11%); and significant latino/hispanic(9%) and black (10%) communities.

The two major candidates are Keith Fimian [Republican] http://www.keithfimian.com/
and Gerry Connolly [Democrat] http://www.gerryconnolly.com/

On a personal note this is my favourite district in the country - I stay there with friends when I visit Washington; and love the district's history (it includes Mt Vernon - Home of George Washington). Each November I stay up on election night and watch the results for Mount Vernon District as they are posted on http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/eb/returns.htm. Details of each precinct can be found at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/eb/pcts/mtvrn/mtvrnon.htm. I wish I could be there for this election!