Results starting to come in for Special Election for Ohio’s Fifth Congressional…
11 Dec 2007
They can be viewed online through the Secretary of State website.
I recommend viewing the interactive map to see which counties are reporting, and when they do start reporting you can see the numbers reported for each county, at this point only Ashland County is showing results.
Ashland County’s results are in for the 13 precincts that were a part of this election, the unofficial results are 646 Latta, 405 Weirauch, 4 for John Green, that’s a total of 1055 voters, which doesn’t make sense since the Secretary of State website lists 1,061 for voter turnout. In 2004 for Ashland County, Gillmor received – 3,181 Weirauch -1,989.
Wow! The Sec of State’s site is super high tech. I can’t wait until the next general.
December 11th, 2007 at 8:46 pmMakes you wish Lucas County had that kind of technology on election day doesn’t it?
December 11th, 2007 at 8:48 pm13abc just reported on air that Bob Latta has won the 5th Dist. seat. They attributed it to AP wire.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:09 pmMost of the counties haven’t even reported yet, I saw they called it but I think it’s a bit early considering Wood County, the largest county in the District has not been counted yet.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:11 pmyeah, well ya just can’t tell where those AP folks get there stuff
December 11th, 2007 at 9:12 pmcraig – they use historical vote percentages to predict outcomes – but those are not always correct.
The SOS site is nice, but with 16 of 17 precincts in Lucas reporting, Latta leads Weirauch by 181 votes…and the SOS doesn’t have any of these on their website yet.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:19 pmUnofficial Wood County results with all precincts reporting:
ROBERT E. LATTA REP 12487 54.54%
December 11th, 2007 at 9:23 pmROBIN WEIRAUCH DEM 10365 45.27%
Write-in Votes 44 0.19%
This is an important race for sure, but it sure would be nice to have just ONE political race where the winner is announced after a reasonable majority of votes are counted and not have wires and media watch trends. That’s how the nat’l media got screwed when they predicted Dole for President.
They want everyone to vote yet make me feel sometimes like my vote doesn’t need to be counted in order to come up with a decision.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:27 pmNot Dole, wow I wonder where I pulled that from, I meant Gore.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:28 pmAgreed, Craig…
December 11th, 2007 at 9:30 pmWeirauch did best in Wood County in her last election…but did not carry that county in this one…that could be one of the reasons the media have called the race already. That, and a dem hasn’t held the seat since the 1930’s…
At least the media waited until after the polls closed…
December 11th, 2007 at 9:34 pmI just don’t want Bob Latta as my congressman, I didn’t want Paul Gillmor as my congressman, in fact I’m still mad that they re-drew the districts and took Marcy away from part of Lucas County.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:40 pmI agree too Craig, it was expected that this special election would be close, not sure how close it will end up being when it is all counted but it does look like Latta will win.
It’s a pet peeve of mine to call elections no matter who’s running, I wish they’d wait until at least 75% or so of the votes were counted before they “declare” winners.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:42 pmThe I agree was to your earlier comment, I understand your frustration with your district being re-drawn but as Maggie pointed out, this particular district is traditionally more conservative than the rest of NWO. It would have been a huge upset if Robin would have won.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:44 pmLisaRenee says “Makes you wish Lucas County had that kind of technology on election day doesn’t it?”
Now, now, now Lisa…..remember baby steps, baby steps.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:55 pmTrue…but I can dream Rockets Man…I can dream…
December 11th, 2007 at 9:56 pmActually, Lucas County did have this type of technology…In 2002, I watched a similar reporting program done by precincts within the County. The problem was that the Auditor did the program, using data from the BOE. With all the new rules, requirements and security over computer code on the new machines, the type of interface they used to gather the voting results data was no longer allowed.
What I don’t know is if the Auditor can ‘give’ their tracking software to the BOE for them to use/show the public…or if, because of the new machines, completely new code would have to be written.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:04 pmScary brown people getting free health care wins in an “R” district. Doesn’t matter if its true or not.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:07 pmLisa – has Robin conceded? The reason I ask is because I have an email from Bennett on Latta’s ‘win’ … I think it’s wrong of him to make a statement on the win if results are still coming in and Robin hasn’t conceded the race, even if the media have called it.
And Craig – I’d respectfully disagree as to your conclusion about what wins in an ‘R’ district…
December 11th, 2007 at 10:11 pmRedfern already made a statement as well, I haven’t heard that she has conceded but apparently the party’s are making their statements on it regardless. I don’t think I’m on the list of receiving press releases from Bennett.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:13 pmMaggie I remember well when we did have the election results posted in 2002, I don’t think it was as advanced as what the State has but it was a huge improvement over what we currently have. It is a shame that things could not be resolved with the Auditor’s department and the BOE to find a way to continue that.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:15 pmAs an aside, I would add that it’s possible Craig’s point is a valid one when it came to the negativity of the ads used by Freedoms Watch and the RNCC. Robin Weirauch’s position on immigration was not exactly presented accurately, as an example, she opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants. The DCCC deciding to use Noe also was probably not that wise since most of the voters of NWO are sick of Noe and I think those outside of NWO continue to place a higher value on the Noe factor than has been proven to exist here.
From a campaign standpoint, it was smart to try to portray her as an extreme Liberal in a conservative area, how much that had to do with the results or if this was a matter where those who voted were not influenced by this is really too soon to tell.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:19 pmLisa – didn’t disagree with how the NRCC or DCCC portrayed the candidates, just think it’s hard for supporters of one candidate to really understand why supporters of the opponent vote the way they do. And that goes for both sides of the political aisle.
Usually, when one group tries to figure out why the other group voted as they did, preconceived perceptions of ‘typical’ behavior come into play, and that’s where problems start.
I think that a December election is a real anomaly…have we ever had a December election before?
December 11th, 2007 at 10:24 pmwell, looks like we can stop watching the map, all the votes appear to be in. Latta won by 13,804 votes.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:24 pmLooks like people thought Daddy Latta of Bobby is back in the race so that has to be part of the factor. Kinda like people is still living in the past…yep yep yep siree. It’s pretty sad that children who grows up to be an adult usually follow their parent’s footsteps into politics and they win by last name recognition.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:32 pmMaggie, I don’t disagree with what you just posted at all, I think some of the perceptions do cause problems. But it was the “scary brown people getting health care” that Craig mentioned that was what part of the last minute blitz on advertising was about. Like you, I don’t know how much of an impact it had, it seemed to turn people off totally from what has been said about it but this blog is a small microcosm when it comes to things like that, that could not transcend into the larger parts of NWO.
The value of negative advertising could be debated, it’s obvious in most cases it does work, and as long as it appears to work the chances of it ever stopping are slim. Voters don’t yet appear to have really had enough of it.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:35 pmWell I’ve had enough of it, and I didn’t even get to vote in this race! Guess that means my vote doesn’t count. LOL
December 11th, 2007 at 10:46 pmOn the bright side, at least Latta will not keep trading the Ohio House and Senate seats with Randy Gardner any longer. I’m not in favor of term limits, but their blatant disregard for what the voters wanted regarding term limits was nauseating to say the least.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:47 pmIs she running again?
December 12th, 2007 at 12:29 amIt sounds as if she is considering it, this special election was just to fill the end of the term for this seat, the seat would again be up for election in November of 2008, the primary for that will be in March.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:36 amOK, I did oversimplify a tad. Fact is, negative ads work even if they aren’t truthful. Despite the lip service the R party chair paid to civil campaigns, their candidates will never stop “going there”, ever.
December 12th, 2007 at 6:39 amRegarding Robin trying again, I think she should give up. A low turnout, off-year election was the best chance she had to win. Unless Latta gets caught up in a gay sex scandal or gets indicted, that seat will be his for as long as he wants it.
Lisa Renee, did you check out Matt Stoller’s analysis of the OH-5 race? I thought it was pretty interesting.
Link:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/11/23639/182
December 12th, 2007 at 7:37 amInteresting that somebody would try to make a case that a Republican won only because of scare tactics then continues to provide a link to one of the most partisan fringe websites in American politics today. Better luck next year moonbats!
December 12th, 2007 at 11:04 amCB,
Latta won both elections with the help of his negative campaign ads. Even the “R” chair admitted that the first election was so toxic, Latta put a safe seat in jeopardy. I’m sure he’ll represent the 5th with the same honor and dignity with which he ran his campaign.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:20 pm