Election Day

April 04, 2007

Quick wrap up from around the area

Union-endorsed School Bard candidates Katherine Wessling and David Jackson won the two open slots on the–likely soon to be powerless–St. Louis school board with 37% and 31% respectively.

In University City, Lynn Ricci handily defeated challenger Gloria Nickerson for the 2nd ward council seat, 81% to 19%.

In Overland, the unsurprising news of the day is the recall of Mayor Ann Purzner. Approved by 73% of the residents.

Creve Coeur residents approved a slate of charter amendments ranging from how ordinances are enacted–which passed with 72%–to requiring a two-thirds majority vote of the city council to approve eminent domain–88%. The eminent domain amendment was placed on the ballot by citizen petition. (full list here.)

April 03, 2007

Results at stlelections.com

29% of the precincts reporting - Parks is up 70-30.

UPDATE: It passes. 6.8% turnout.

SLPS Board Elections

in the Economist.

Election Day Open Thread

How slow is it out there?

Predictions on the parks? It needs 3/5 to pass.

March 07, 2007

You have reached the voicemail of....

Before going into his concession speech, Jim Shrewsbury told the gathered supporters he had tried to call Lewis Reed on the phone but was unable to reach him.

In Reed's defense, his gathering was rocking all night and cell phone reception in the bowels of the Jefferson Arms was spotty at best. The two eventually spoke after Shrewsbury's speech.

Reed Wins!

Mayor's statement.

March 06, 2007

15th ward

Former State Senator Pat Dougherty was at the polling place in the 15th ward in support of Jim Shrewsbury.

One voter demanded of those handing out lit for Lewis Reed and Shrewsbury if their candidate supported "Beer for babies" and later "beer for toddlers"?

Confused looks followed in his wake.

Turn Out Impressions

Light, everywhere. In some places it feels very light. Hearing okay turn-out (light, but steady) in 6, 23, 16, 28.

Tales from 24

Emailer writes: Alderman Bill Waterhouse chatted with one of his opponent's poll workers this morning at Dewey School. He was surprised to learn that the young woman lived in St. Charles County. When Waterhouse asked her why she was volunteering for Tom Bauer in a city election, she said, "because my uncle -- who is a contractor -- is paying me." Waterhouse also reports that turnout in the 24th has been very low.

Dead in 8

Polls are dead in Ward 8 this morning.

Go Vote, Please.

It's a beautiful day.

November 08, 2006

MO Results

SOS site.

Montee wins Auditor.
In State Senate - Barnitz holds; Bray holds; McKenna leading; Shoemyer wins; and Champion holds off Harpool.
Minimum Wage passes.
Tobacco Tax doesn''t.
Prop P passes.
And stem cell looks like it passes.

More on the State House races in a bit.

CLAIRE WINS

You can feel it here.

November 07, 2006

Grill Wins; Welch Loses

Grill's a pick-up. Makes up for Dake

Meanwhile

Some Dem big-wigs are picking Claire up from the airport to come to the hotel here. And the mood is getting happier.... Katherine Harris loss (FLA) has the crowd here applauding.

In the House

It's early down here, but in the house already: Roger Wilson, Jim Shrewsbury, Rachel Storch, Steve Brown, Matt Murphy, Stephen Gregali and Tony Wyche.

In a half-hour, the number of politicos will have quadrupled. Come on down, it's just getting started.

More bits

Rumor - They've run out of ballots in some locations in Jeff County. Remember you can report problems to Dem attorneys at 1-888-DEM VOTE

Meanwhile - the Missourian does an unscientific exit poll with its reporters.

Folks from Rolla and Waynesville MO are talking about a plane circling with a banner: Vote Frank Barnitz for State Senate.

No Cloning group has 1000 vollunteers at Polling Places

Drew McKeown (pronounced me-KOU-an) stood a lonely watch outside a polling place in University City passing handbills out to voters encouraging them to vote no on Amendment 2. Normally the polling place is stacked with volunteers on election day, but this grey November day, only McKeown was out.

McKeown, a student at Washington University studying economics, said he became involved through conservative maven Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum. He said he is concerned by the “ethical slippery slope” that the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures proposes. What if successful research requires weeks of development rather than hours or days, he asked?

McKoewn admitted that most voters he approached had already made up their mind. He added, that despite a few mean-spirited comments, he had almost run out of handbills.

Jackie Winship from Missourians Against Human Cloning said they have around 1,000 volunteers at polls in St. Louis City and County. They have a nearly equal number in Kansas City and more throughout the state.

Connie Farrow of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures said they were focused not on polling places, but were still getting the message out by sign-waving in high visibility places. Farrow said they have 1,000 volunteers across the state. In the city they are setting up at locations like the Tamm overpass on Interstate 40 and folks at major intersections like Clayton and Hanley.

Both groups said they have gotten word of high turnout, but neither is doing any exit-polling and any impression of success is anecdotal. They'll be watching tonights count like everyone else.

U City

Turnout is, unsurprisingly, high this election, and University City is no exception. The polling place at the Parkview Tower Apartments, a retirement community on Westgate, just off the Delmar loop, serves four precincts and at noon the line was nearly out the door. One worker at the apartments said the line had run out the door earlier. One woman said it took just over an hour and fifteen minutes to vote.

Another voter, about half-way through the line, said they had been there 45 minutes. A short time later, the lines had shrunk and wait-times were averaging around an hour.

Rep. Maria Chapelle-Nadal said the longer lines were at least in part due to a precinct being added to the polling place. Chapell-Nadal said ehat precinct, which served The Heights area just West of City Hall, historically has a high turnout rate, near 90%.

Randoms

We've heard:

That rural MO and StL County have both received record numbers of absentee ballots.

That is the Progressive candidate to watch is Terry Bunker. Progressives need one of their state-wide candidates to hit 2% in order to avoid having to jump through the signature ringer next election. With a close Senate race, they expect progressives will vote practically rather than ideologically in the contest.

That turnout is heavy in most places around the region, with St. Louis County election officials predicting 70%participation.

On the South Side...

Bob Burns, who's running for the 85th District house seat, talks to voters at Assumption in South St. Louis County this morning.

The St. Louis County Library at Tesson Ferry and Lindbergh was the scene of some excitement. The electronic voting machines were not working initially. There were reports that some people were told they could come back later, but if they already signed, it's not clear whether they would allowed to vote. While I was there, the paramedics showed up to tend to an ailing voter(after about 20 minutes the voter was able to leave on her own).

Opponents of Proposition P apparently hadn't planned on the rain. They made use of signs from a previous election.

This is what we like to call grassroots.

Dems hope to reverse trend

For a little historical perspective here's how the state House and Senate have totally reversed over the past fifteen years:

Current Senate: GOP 22-11 (1 GOP vacant, Dolan resigns 11/05)

YEAR SENATE
2006 GOP 22-11 (1 vac)
2005 GOP 23-11
2004 GOP 20-14
2003 GOP 20-14
2002 GOP 18-16
2001 GOP 18-16
2000 DEM 18-1
1999 DEM 18-16
1997 DEM 19-15
1995 DEM 19-15
1993 DEM 19-15
1991 DEM 23-11

Current House: GOP 97-66

YEAR HOUSE
2006 GOP 97-66
2005 GOP 98-64 (1 vac)
2004 GOP 90-73
2003 GOP 90-73
2002 DEM 87-75 (1 vac)
2001 DEM 86-74 (3 vac)
2000 DEM 85-76 (2 vac)
1999 DEM 86-76-1 Ind
1997 DEM 87-75-1 Ind
1995 DEM 87-76
1993 DEM 96-65 (2 vac)
1991 DEM 98-65

The State Senate Race to Watch

is the 30th - Champion versus Harpool.

Consensus has McKenna and Shoemyer winning and Barnitz holding. Assuming that happens, Harpool is really the one to watch - because on Thursday the Democratic Senators will caucus.

Chuck Graham will challenge Maida Coleman for the leadership position. Observers say that he is counting on Harpool's vote to unseat Coleman. Harpool wins, Graham is the new minority leader; Harpool loses and Graham has to go hunting for another vote.

Stuff

Just back from voting, pretty solid lines at the 8th ward.

We'll have regular updates here: some on the ground reporting from competitive State House races; tid-bits I've been hearing and things to look for.

As always, feel free to email or call with tips - 314-255-5210.

Blogging will continue throughout the night. If you're a Salon.com reader, you might look for my byline late tonight; I'll be filing their Talent-McCaskill story.

More soon...

November 01, 2006

Election Night

Expect to compile a list of party locations later this week. Meanwhile here are two options:

Governor Holden hosts Election Night at Webster. (Thanks for the forward, Thomas)

The Royale will be doing drink specials. (ACC staff will probably start the evening here.)

October 19, 2006

NOV 7 ballots

From the BOE:
Ward 4.
Ward 23.

October 16, 2006

Voter ID Unconstitutional

MO Supreme Court upholds ruling.

August 10, 2006

Election pictures

Are up in the Photo Gallery:
Election Day.
Daly-McMillan Party.
Jeff Smith Party.
St. Raymond's the next day.

All were taken by Brian Werner.

August 09, 2006

Ward by Ward breakdown

Download file

Unofficial results, of course. Analysis to come. Just received it and putting it up.
More to come.

First Look:
Boykins won 21.
El-Amin won 1, 4, 17, 18, 19, 22, 26, 27.
Gambaro won 10, 16.
Smith won 8, 12, 14, 15, 23, 24, 28.

Gambaro only beat Smith 54-39 in his stronghold of Ward 10, the Hill. Meanwhile, most predictions had Gambaro winning Wards 23 and 24. Instead he finished a strong second in those areas.

Smith won big in his base - Ward 8 (64%), Ward 15 (72%) and Ward 28 (65%). And also made in-roads into most northside wards including Ward 4 (8.5%), Ward 18 (13.8%), Ward 21 (7.7%), Ward 26 (20.3%),and Ward 27 (8.7%). In Ward 17 El-Amin only beat Smith by 1 (one) vote.

UPDATE: ACC Staffer Brian Werner has entered the ward-by-ward breakdown for the 4th SD race into an Excel spreadsheet for data junkies.

Photos from Last Night

Mike McMillan confers with Dave Chilenski as election results come in.

The Jeff Smith party gets fired up as 4th SD results are announced.

Smith gives a speech on stairs. Early endorser Fred Kratky by his side.

Smith Wins

Lacy Clay at Jeff Smith's victory party.

Smith Wins.

August 08, 2006

Late Update

Though after 5 p.m. things were picking up he two words from most poll workers were, "hot" and "slow".

• Ald. Jennifer Florida (15th) was at the Fanning Middle School polling place talking to voters. One of the volunteers gathering signatures to start a recall against Florida said she was focusing on people who had signed the petition. Florida was passing out her latest newsletter to voters and was involved in a discussion about the zoning issues with two voters who seemed less than pleased with her support for the McDonald's project on South Grand.

• Derio's parents were out working the poll at St. Ambrose School on the Hill. They were joined by a lone, brave Jeff Smith volunteer (this being Derio's home-turf after-all).

• I heard complaints that things were moving slowly with the touch-screen machines.

• Up in the 18th Ward, turnout was light at the Washington Montessori polling place on N. Euclid. Karla May and El-Amin had a half-dozen volunteers a piece working the poll. 18th ward power-broker John Curtis said that the kind of confusion that exists, shouldn't be happening. The candidates should have sat down and talked things out rather than fight it out at the polls. Voters were having to use some creative logic ("pretzel logic" as the American's Political Eye called it) to determine who they were voting for.

No one seemed to want to take any odds on the races, but everyone seemed surprised by the low turnout.

News you can Use

One person asked for Victory Party information. I'm happy to refer folks to the Fix where they've compiled this evening's circuit.

Another person was wondering where to get results. The St. Louis Board of Election has a new web-site that will publish the tallies instantly. So check it out.

Latest Update

ELECTION DAY UPDATE

** Continued reports of light, light turn-out, with the general feeling being that demographically the voters are skewing older. In some polling places they're joking that there are more workers than voters.

** ACC correspondent Brian Werner ran into Joe Palm outside Church's. Palm had just finished purchasing lunch for his volunteers at Church's. (He graciously offered an extra box to the ACC staff.)

** Todd Britt, former aide to Francis Slay, was handing out lit for Kenny Jones at the Kingshighway Library poll. Britt says the race is too close to call. Next to Todd was volunteer Mary Long working the site for Jeff Smith.

** Across a number of polling places, the Smith volunteers are younger and mor energetic. We noticed several cases where El-Amin or Ward Org workers stayed sitting in chairs nevermind passing voters. Who knows whether last minute voter contact matters. But if it does, that should help Smith.

In other news, KWMU is reporting that the November ballot initatives now number only two.

More later...

Election Day Update

ELECTION DAY UPDATE
** Karla May looks like she has great poll presence in the 57th. Should be interesting to see if that's translated into votes.

** Light turn-out everywhere. Bad news for those without a serious ground game. Gambaro folks say its OK for them, that their conservative base is still more likely to vote than others. Smith folks also think that their election day machine will work regardless of over-all trends.

** SEEN WORKING THE POLLS: At the Sublette YMCA: Carnahan Chief of Staff Todd Patterson; 10th ward Committeeman John Paul Frisella; Congressional candidate Jim Frisella; candidate Derio Gambaro. At the Shaw's Sherman Elementary: Mr. Smith movie producer Matt Coen. At Kingshighway Library: Alderman Steve Conway. At Adam's School: Former aldermanic candidate Rodney Burchfield.

Send in your comments. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the day...

Here we go

Jeff Smith's army of volunteers had an early morning (4:30 am) breakfast at Uncle Bill's before a big day at the polls.

Send in your comments today. Where did you vote? Who had signs, supporters? Heavy turn-out, light turn-out? Let us know what's going on.

August 04, 2006

Forecast update

96 degrees.

August 02, 2006

Parks tax renewal

KWMU's story.

Election Day Forecast

Weather.com says 94 degrees now, 30% of rain.

July 31, 2006

Election Day Forecast

High of 85, 60% chance of rain.

Hmmmm.... wonder what that means.

July 28, 2006

Schlafly for Farr in GOP 1st CD

Leslie Farr has announced the endorsement of Phyllis Schlafly.

April 05, 2006

KWMU election wrap up

School Board

2nd District

Others

April 04, 2006

Mid-day results from Sunset Hills

Looks like incumbents going down.

Polling the polls

I managed to visit a few polling sites in the middle of the day today. The turnout so far was unsurprisingly light, but picking up.

Visiting the 18th Ward polling station at Washington Montessori, one block north of Fountain Park on Euclid, I met publisher and community activist John Curtis.

Curtis was talking with voters; answering their questions and providing his opinion on the candidates and other issues on the ballot. In the 18th ward, Curtis' word is trusted. At the top of the handout the Downs-Jones supporters were handing out was a picture of Curtis with the two candidates, his name was also the first in the long list of endorsements.

Curtis said that he supported integration not separation, which he believes the Downs-Jones ticket represented. For Curtis, it made no sense to for Democrats to support Buford, a Republican.

People vote in their own interest, said Curtis, and what is of greater interest than money? Curtis believed the South Side might be voting against their own interests if they vote in favor of the incumbency, which many predict will happen.

Fanning Middle in the 15th Ward.

Roosevelt High School in the 6th Ward.

Representatives of the Downs-Jones slate seemed predominant. One poll worker at Mann School in the 15th Ward was from the Buford-Clinkscale slate. He said they had a number of workers around the city. I just missed a few at in the 18th ward. According to other poll workers, they had just left to head to another polling site.

An unofficial poll of the workers was indeterminate.

Good Weather

Said to favor Clinkscale-Buford. Still turn-out is expected between 15-18%.

Please make time - VOTE!

March 14, 2006

April 4 City Ballot

In addition to the school board race, three other matters:

PROPOSITION EJ
Shall the Board of Trustees of St. Louis Community College (Junior College District of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Missouri) be authorized to increase the operating tax levy for the purposes of implementing recommendations from the GROWTH community engagement process which includes implementing job-training programs,improving instructional programs, enhancing instructional staff, providing necessary computer and technology infrastructure, repairing and replacing roofs, modernizing and replacing heating and cooling systems,improving safety and security operations, and constructing and equipping new instructional facilities by $0.12 cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation? If this proposition is approved, the adjusted operating levy of the college district is estimated to be $0.3408 cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation.

CHARTER AMENDMENT - PROPOSITION R
Shall the Charter of the City of St. Louis be amended by repealing Section 9 of Article III relating to limitations on the time of filing recall petitions and enacting a new section to be numbered Section 9 of Article III relating to the same subject matter which shall be and read as follows?
Section 9. Limitations on Use.

The Board of Election Commissioners shall prescribe the form of the recall petition. Any such form shall provide for the dating of all signatures thereon. At the time a recall petition is requested the Board of Election Commissioners shall notify the officer who is the subject of the recall petition. No recall petition shall be filed against any officer within the first six months or the last six months of his term nor within eighteen months after a proposition for his recall has been defeated at an election. No recall petition shall be filed against any officer later than one hundred and eighty (180) days from the date the petition is requested by the petitioners from the Board of Election.

PROPOSITION G
Shall the graduated business license tax rates imposed in SECTION ONE of Ordinance 60643 be repealed and new graduated business license tax rates as follows be imposed: St. Louis Employees Graduated Business License Tax
2 or fewer $200.00
3-5 $325.00
6-10 $675.00
11-20 $1500.00
21-30 $2250.00
31-40 $3000.00
41-50 $4500.00
51-75 $7500.00
76-100 $11,250.00
101-150 $15,000.00
151-200 $20,250.00
201-300 $25,500.00
301-400 $30,000.00
401-500 $34,500.00
501 or more $37,500.00

January 22, 2006

No more "chad" jokes

The Washington Post ran a story today again raising questions about the security of Diebold Election System's touchscreen voting machines, a few of which the city has purchased.

While both Election Board chairman Ed Martin (also an ACC contributor), and Diebold are correct in insisting that elections are only as secure as those who run them, yet moving towards a system that does not provide a paper trail makes it that much harder to examine potential fraud and correct it when it occurs.

The fraudulent recall petitions in the 22nd Ward show that people are more than willing to brazenly sign-off, under oath, on blatantly illegal documents (did they really believe the BOE wasn't going to check out the signatures?).

Touchscreen voting machines may very well help eliminate some of the "hanging-chad"-style problems; where election judges must determine a voter's intent.

An effective system might consist of a touchscreen machine that provides the voter with the ballot options and then spits out a printed ballot with the choices the voter selected; which they then drop into the ballot box. It could be tailored to meet the needs of blind or disabled voters, eliminates problems with punch-card systems, provides assurance to the voter that their vote is accurate, and it still keeps people in the system.

There is nothing wrong with a room full of people counting the paper ballots. It's not antiquated, it's not inefficient. It's one part of the election process that should be celebrated.

Nothing should replace the paper trail in elections. Speed and cost should not drive our election system. Accuracy and participation should.

For those who think electronic vote tabulation is the wave of the future, perhaps we should poll the folks who recently had their accounts hacked at ScottTrade to measure their faith in electronic systems. That's a company that invests millions into its security system alone.

Any system is vulnerable to fraud, St. Louis' history is rife with it. But a staff of well-trained election officials and a room full of physical records can ensure that the process is accurate, fair and ours.

Update: In response to Mr. Martin's comments, I wasn't addressing the St. Louis BOE's decisions, their choice of touchscreen machines do include a paper trail. In the event of a recount, the touchscreen machines provide a record.

My point was to address the larger argument of an electronic ballot system versus a paper ballot system. In my opinion a system that calculates votes electronically rather than counting physical ballots raises more questions than it answers.

November 14, 2005

Moderates or the Base?

Crane Durham, of 97.1 FM, made a puzzling comment on last week's Donnybrook. Durham said, in essence, the key to victory is energizing your political base, not reaching out to the "moderate" voters.

Durham simply could have mean that an effective GOTV machine is crucial (and it is), but given the give-and-take with fellow raconteur Alvin Reid of the St. Louis American, he seemed to imply that the base was the essential ingredient.

Given Republican success at the polls in recent years and their very visible focus on courting and turning out their conservative base, it isn't surprising that moderate voters' influence is overlooked. Those voters have pulled the Republican lever for reasons less easy to define or control (security was the major issue last fall, of course). Yet the margin provided by the base may be erased in the suburbs if the party mishandles issues like education.

The Democratic victory in the 94th may have been less a sign of a Democratic resurgence than suburban voters not reacting to hot-button conservative issues. Some Dems expressed surprise at the conservative tone in Moira Byrd's campaign compared to those of her late husband's, while the Bogetto campaign stressed opposition to controversial decisions made by Governor Blunt and pushed on issues like health care.

That certain blocks had locked up the electoral influence in this country was a common theme in some worried circles last year. This will likely remain true in rural and urban areas (see, Smith in 150th MO House and Goodman in 29th MO Senate districts). However, if the "moderate middle" is becoming more volatile after 5 years, than it may move the political dialogue towards persuading voters that one-or-the-other party is the better choice, rather than merely outflanking them.

Democrat pollster Ruy Teixiera takes a look at the national scene in a New York Times op-ed.
Matthew

November 09, 2005

Jubilant Dems

Jane Bogetto's campaign manager nearly blew his voice out at 9:01 p.m. yelling, "We have a new state representative!" The volunteers and staff smiled in shock and surprise as word of the margin (1286 officially) got around.

Despite the sepulchuric "It's His Seat" t-shirts sported by a few members of the Byrd GOTV effort, the voters in Kirkwood said decisively that it's Bogetto's seat for now.

"It's going to be a new day, I am so excited…Thank you again," said Bogetto, thanking the assembled volunteers and supporters, "We'll have to do this again next November!"

Bogetto agreed that her success in this traditionally Republican seat is partly due to a rejection of Blunt and the Republican Party.

"I think they said, 'enough is enough.'…This sends a huge message"

The former Kirkwood School Board member's landslide victory in a seat that has never been held by a Democrat has been dismissed by Governor Blunt and the Republican Party. Yet despite efforts by Republicans to paint her as a radical lefty, she walloped the candidate that stuck almost exclusively to the Republican talking points and backed the republican Governor.

Some of the Dems in attendance noted that they felt the late Rep. Richard Byrd was somewhat moderate, someone they could work with and that the current campaign was more conservative than they expected. Byrd won the seat only a year ago with 54% of the vote.

Bogetto felt that the point at which she was put over the top was when the Byrd campaign, "went so very negative." She said that in a small district like the 94th, people "get to know you" and going negative can backfire.

The Democrat website, Fired Up! Missouri noted efforts by Byrd campaign supporters to portray Bogetto as an anti-"family values" candidate, including anonymous "robo calls".

A major factor for Bogetto may have been the one hundred plus volunteers calling and knocking on doors. Though territories don't always overlap, the Bogetto volunteers were surprised they saw only a few from the Byrd campaign, the ones wearing the "It's His Seat" t-shirts.

Matthew

Bond issue passes

easily. (6-7% turnout?)

and of course, Bogetto won. How about that?

November 08, 2005

VOTE

Don't forget.

September 20, 2005

Bauer beaten

Post.

Recall Talk

Gotta prediction on today's recall election? 24th ward voters, tell us what you see on the ground at the polling places. Any last minute developments?

September 19, 2005

Bauer's Absurd Mailer

Tomorrow's Recall

Couple of things:

A Pro-Recall Rally/ Funraiser tonight - 4:00-7:00 at John Corbett's home - should give some indication about how energized the Recall folks are.

I've had two different Anti-recall mailer scanned and emailed to me. One is absurd, the other is atrocious.

Absurd - Bauer seems to claim that the recall will keep gas prices artificially high.
Atrocious - A smear. Reprint of a court settlement of an employer of someone in favor of the recall.

June 07, 2005

4th Ward Results

OL Shelton 294
Peggy Ryan 152
Greg Tumlin 125
Sam Moore 222

Special Election in the 4th Ward Today

Turn-out is very light. Look for less than 1,000 votes. OL Shelton is the Democratic nominee and presumed favorite. We'll have the results here later tonight.

April 06, 2005

Final tally - School board

VERONICA O'BRIEN 12,273 18.62%
WILLIAM PURDY 10,066 15.28%
FLINT W. FOWLER 10,013 15.19%
Peter Downs 9,424 14.3%
Joe Moramarco 7,538 11.44%
Joseph Keaveny 7,479 11.35%
Nancy Galvin 2,789 4.23%
Monica L. McNichols-Johnson 2,753 4.18%
Frank W. Kriegel Jr. 2,090 3.17%
Dan Kinney 1,472 2.23%

April 05, 2005

Dissenters' Slate still leading

With 65% reporting, they hold the first and second slots and are fighting for the third.

Veronica O'Brien 7,396 18.1%
William Purdy 6,265 15.33%
Flint W. Fowler 5,944 14.55%
Peter Downs 5,737 14.04%
Joe Moramarco 4,863 11.9%
Joseph Keaveny 4,683 11.46%
Nancy Galvin 1,848 4.52%
Monica L. McNichols-Johnson 1,755 4.29%
Frank W. Kriegel Jr. 1,342 3.28%
Dan Kinney 1,033 2.53%

Channeling PE: "It's a win for the mayor as the majority slate picks up a seat!"

Bad news for the Dems

Alter wins.

Bill Alter REP 6,861 30.1%
Rick Johnson DEM 6,795 29.8%
Harold R. Selby IND 6,272 27.5%
Zip Rzeppa IND 2,854 12.5%

Selby surges, apparently drawing votes away from Alter and Johnson alike. Could the endless negative commercials between Alter and Johnson have contributed to voters turning to Selby in the closing days?

Jefferson County is now officially a beach-head for Republicans looking to take the 3rd CD in 2006.

Mid-day and Absentee - School Board

Dissenters' Slate winning at mid-day.

Veronica O'Brien 619 17.9%
William Purdy 521 15.06%
Flint W. Fowler 395 11.42%
Peter Downs 388 11.22%
Joseph Keaveny 316 9.14%
Joe Moramarco 310 8.96%
Nancy Galvin 292 8.44%
Monica L. McNichols-Johnson 289 8.36%
Frank W. Kriegel Jr. 182 5.26%
Dan Kinney 147 4.25%

Other election day news

School Board results are SLOW. They are counting the write-ins for community college therefore no numbers so far.

And a shout out to Ben DeClue who handily won the Crystal City Ward 2 race.
BEN DeCLUE 173 98.86%
Write-in Votes 2 1.14%
Tomorrow morning, Ben, make sure to reach out to the two write-in voters.

Meanwhile the mid-day results in the Lindbergh School District's tax increase are looking grim:
1,829 Yes
3,082 No
Blame it on much higher assessments which just hit homeowners last week.

Close in the 22nd

Quite a race in the 22nd.

Secretary of State has 80% reporting and Alter up by 127.
Post has 84% reporting and Alter up by 30.
JeffCo has 94% reporting and Alter up by 58.

Amazingly Selby is pulling in over 25% right now. Rzeppa around 12%.

More victory parties

Flint Fowler will be at Vito's at 3515 Lindell.

Joe Keaveny will be at Bill Christmas's studio located at 6014 Kingsbury.

Joe Moramarco will host a party at his home at 1616 South Compton.

March 18, 2005

Mayoral primary results - by ward

Ward 1 - 21.1 % turn-out
Slay 452
Smith 1,292
Haas 44

Ward 2 - 14.67% turn-out
Slay 321
Smith 725
Haas 27

Ward 3 - 18.65% turn-out
Slay 435
Smith 786
Haas 59

Ward 4 - 15.63% turn-out
Slay 403
Smith 764
Haas 33

Ward 5 - 23.57% turn-out
Slay 756
Smith 763
Haas 59

Ward 6 - 17.85% turn-out
Slay 968
Smith 396
Haas 26

Ward 7 - 14.88% turn-out
Slay 773
Smith 223
Haas 40

Ward 8 - 16.69% turn-out
Slay 978
Smith 268
Haas 47

Ward 9 - 12.17% turn-out
Slay 623
Smith 149
Haas 39

Ward 10 - 20.74% turn-out
Slay 1,392
Smith 109
Haas 37

Ward 11 - 15.34% turn-out
Slay 909
Smith 101
Haas 39

Ward 12 - 24.35% turn-out
Slay 1,831
Smith 77
Haas 45

Ward 13 - 19.96% turn-out
Slay 1,262
Smith 118
Haas 56

Ward 14 - 19,84% turn-out
Slay 1,089
Smith 101
Haas 46

Ward 15 - 14.8% turn-out
Slay 762
Smith 197
Haas 63

Ward 16 - 27.38% turn-out
Slay 2,338
Smith 91
Haas 63

Ward 17 - 21.91% turn-out
Slay 1,060
Smith 412
Haas 61

Ward 18 - 14.96% turn-out
Slay 442
Smith 747
Haas 29

Ward 19 - 14.16% turn-out
Slay 458
Smith 375
Haas 47

Ward 20 - 8.31% turn-out
Slay 303
Smith 159
Haas 13

Ward 21 - 19.73% turn-out
Slay 574
Smith 1,031
Haas 62

Ward 22 - 11.7% turn-out
Slay 344
Smith 513
Haas 31

Ward 23 - 29.42% turn-out
Slay 2,408
Smith 124
Haas 78

Ward 24 - 16.82% turn-out
Slay 1,200
Smith 140
Haas 53

Ward 25 - 15.92% turn-out
Slay 783
Smith 170
Haas 47

Ward 26 - 13.44% turn-out
Slay 413
Smith 696
Haas 27

Ward 27 - 16.15% turn-out
Slay 496
Smith 895
Haas 39

Ward 28 - 18.12% turn-out
Slay 1,179
Smith 319
Haas 54

Absentee Totals From March 8 Election

Mayor
Slay 1,662
Smith 522
Haas 108

Ward 1
Troupe 28
Tyus 40

Ward 3
Bosley 34
Hardin 50

Ward 5
Griffin 211
Nelson 245

Ward 17
Roddy 80
Burchfield 27

Ward 19
McMillan 112
Mtu 7

Ward 21
King 33
Long 15
Keys 17
Berry 1

Ward 23
Hanrahan 85
Lange 36

Ward 25
Kirner 61
Patterson 11

Ward 27
Carter 26
Clark 7

March 09, 2005

Election Results

You won't find them here.

Ward results from the Post.

March 08, 2005

It's Primary Day

Just back from voting - 8th ward.

There was a Slay yard sign, a Green yard sign and one poll worker for the ward committee handing out a green-papered endorsement sheet listing both Slay and Green. No Smith presence at all.

November 02, 2004

See you tonight

Thanks again to everyone who wrote and called in.

I'm heading out for the parties - starting at the Republicans, then to the No on charter amendments, then to the Yes on charter amendments and then downtown.

Hope to see you out there.

Thanks!

Twenty Minutes Left

The final phase of the big GOTV effort - line watching.

There are big lines at some polling places right now (Kappa House, 500 N. Vandeventer; Manor Apartments, 3131 Iowa). Canvassers head to the polls with lines and encourage the voters to stay in line until they vote. If you arrive by 7pm, you can vote.

Pam Ross: High Turn-out Among Young Black Voters

Pam Ross reports after working several north-side polls today that she was impressed by strong turn-out, especially among young black voters. Ross worked wards 18, 19, 22, 26. She reports seeing the usual number of black adults, but a lot more 18 - 23 year olds. They waited in line patiently with determination to vote. After voting, Ross reports, many appear giddy with happiness.

Kos has latest exit polls up

These numbers have Bush winning MO easily. but Kerry taking important swing states - OH, FL, PA

Zogby Agrees with Wahby

Kerry 311; Bush 213.

Report from Ward 7

Ward 7, Precinct 6: 45 - 50 minutes to vote. Prop K handing literature outside; Nobody from either side of the amendments.

Wahby: You Got a New President

Brian Wahby, Chair of the City's Democratic Central Committee says he's seen turn-out today that "outrageous." North-side turn-out has been "excessively heavy." He has a feeling in his gut from his political experience - "You got a new president."

Lampe Report

Maggie Lampe reports that as of 4:30 the 25th ward has had 3,300 voters.

Report from the 12th Ward

Steady line of people from 2-4, virtually no wait. One woman registered to vote online, had her printed receipt but was not allowed to vote. The volunteers outside told her to go back in and cast a provisional ballot (why didnt any of the election officials tell her that?).

Two volunteers handing out NO on ABCD.

Thanks Everybody

This has been fun. Keep the updates coming. Either to dave@archcitychronicle or drebesd@yahoo.com or 314-865-4573. I'll be back in a hour and pass along any after-work scoop.

Oracle likes early rural New Hampshire returns

He says they bode well for Kerry.

Report from 28th Ward - slowing down

Didn't get a number as I voted (forgot to ask how many had come through). No wait to vote at 2:30 p.m., although two people separately told me the line had been one hour long at the lunch hour.

Report from Chesterfield

A large Wild Horse Township polling place reported 48% turnout at 11:30 a.m. This number apparently does not reflect absentee ballots. GOP needs HUGE margins in St. Charles County and West County to negate city turnout.

The Lampe Report

As of 2:00 approximately 2200 people have voted in Ward 25.

Report from 19th ward

Someone dropping by the Council Tower polling place (310 S Grand Blvd) about two hours ago reports that it seems that about half the registered voters had already voted. 50% turn-out at 1pm?

Report from 24th Ward

Here is what I found at my polling place at Ward 24 precinct 7--Dewey School. I had to stand in line at 11 am. I have never had to stand in line. People were saying in the 8 years or whatever time frame they never had to stand in line. Took about 20 minutes to do the whole thing. Obviously some were not prepared as they camped at the polling booth...lol. Same old people giving out the ballots. Nothing new there. Needing a valid picture ID seemed to throw some people but in general everything seemed to be going smoothly. Seemed odd there was no voting set up for handicapped. That was an issue. There were over 500 that had voted at 11. That is about it for me.

Report from 16th ward: High Turn-out or Precinct Consolidation?

One observer wonders how much is due to recent consolidation: Putting city turnout in context: This is the first general election since the city consolidated its precincts. In many cases, what used to be 2 or even 3 precincts have been combined into a single precinct.

Where I live, 3 high-turnout precincts were combined into one. They have two separate teams of election judges (serving A-K and L-Z), but that's still 50% more people for a single table to serve.

I voted in the 16th Ward (St Louis Hills) in the 10:00 hour, when a lull in voting usually takes place. Not today. I waited about 30 minutes to get my ballot and another 15 minutes to get to a machine, for a 45-minute experience. When I got my ballot at about 10:40, I was the 646th person to receive a ballot at that precinct (16.07 - St. Mark's Episcopal).

Voting Mayhem

Stelzer recounts his voting experience over on his blog, Media Mayhem.

Report from Diatriber

Diatriber called in from his van assignment.

He's driving North County working for the MO Dems. He's directed which neighborhood by higher-ups who are monitroing turn-out at various precincts. They are hitting the low turn-out areas and knocking on doors to find out if folks have voted yet.

If they need a ride, they are given a cab company's number that is ready to take people to the polls.

At 7pm when polls close, his team will proceeds to polls and if there are long lines, as expected, urge those in line to stay and wait and vote rather than become dispirited and leave without voting.

Report from Jefferson County

Turnout is brisk and probably very, very high. Tough to tell the mindset of the voters going into the polls though-- many of them have been so inundated with last-minute calls and what not that they're sick of the whole thing. Its cold, windy, a little wet, and people are impatient.

No major problems from what I hear.

Our Charter Government Petition signature collection is going well. With luck, by the end of the day we'll have our 10k signatures to send to the county clerks for certification, and a Charter Commission will be formed.

You guys'll have a lot of fun covering that process.

BTW theres a party at the Robert E. Lee Riverboat restaraunt in Kimmswick, MO
for Jefferson County Democrats, starting at 7 PM i believe

Another Lampe Update (ward 25)

Just took a nice lady to Ward 25, precinct 3 (Resurrection on Meramac) at about 1:15. Only a handful of people were present. She was in and out. One person outside with Democratic literature, and "NO" on ABCD. I'm told Ward 25 (precincts 1 & 4) are still very busy. It's been hard for people with wheelchairs and walkers to enter and exit with the narrow entrance. One person fainted from waiting in line for so long earlier, around 10:00.

Long lines = Long night

One observer: High turnout and long lines will mean a number of people still waiting to vote when the polls close at 7PM? That could mean a serious delay in picking up and counting ballots in City precincts, and a long night waiting to know results for charter amendments and statewide races.

Kerry has to like the early exit numbers

From DailyKos. Things look good for Kerry.

Jeff Smith is hearing anecdotal evidence of HUGE turn-out from the cities across the nation: Philly, Miami, Cleveland, Milwakee. He's feeling confident of a Kerry win.

Federer Low Blow II

Kurt Groetsch snapped this pic of Federer's mud campaign against russ Carnahan.

Report from Ward 28

Arrived about 10.35am, entered booth about 12.20pm. Apparently the division into three special and one general voting district and one, possibly two handicapped curbside voters held things up.

Excellent volunteers, one guy with a lot of energy went up and down the line explaining the reason for the delay. A policeman also pulled up and pointed out that New City and also Union were particularly slow, and that he was there to find out why.

Only two men giving out literature, one a "sample ballot" for the Dems, the other in favor of the Waterman-Lake special district historic lighting etc.

School band practice began as I entered the polling area. Cacophony of out-of-tune brass and percussion provided an interesting sonic backdrop.

Report from Ward 13

Ward 13:
Steady all day at precinct 2; precinct 4 has a long line, about a 30 minute wait.
All voting machine full.

Outside Jeff Winzerling is handing our pro-charter literature and a couple of MoveOn are outside as well.

High Turn-out good or bad for Charter Amendments?

Who knows is the answer.

From someone who works to know these things: "Impossible to predict. Nobody knows very much about a lot of the voters showing up at the polls today. Some of them are new registers, but many of them are registrers-but-don't-usually vote. Nobody really knows how these newbies get their information -- but, they probably don't get it from ward committees."

Report from Tom Lampe

Tom Lampe, husband of the new committeewoman in the 25th ward, sent in this photo from Scrugg Elementary around 7:35am and update:

Ward 25, Precinct 1 & 4 news. There was one guy handing out "Yes" flyers for ABCD. Said he was only going to stay until 9am, but left considerably earlier than that. Right now a few people handing out Democratic and "NO on ABCD" flyers, and one guy handing out Libertarian info"

88% Turn-out expected in StL County?

Tom Weber at KWMU tips that Judy Taylor of the St. Louis County BOE is predicting turn-out of 88% in the county.

Wow.

The defective ballot

James Grove snapped this photo of the ballot that was supposed to have Storch and Verde's names, but instead has Rodney Hubbard's.

19th ward flooded by students

19th ward alderman Mike McMillan says that in his 9 years as an elected official - alderman and committman - he has never seen such HUGE student turn-out from SLU.

Vans are taking students to and from the campus to the polls. At the polling places the students outnumber the local residents, a sight he has never seen.

During the last two presidential cycles, the students were hardly seen. Today they are out in force.

Report from the 8th ward

Lines varied by precincts. 9th precinct line short, 8th long, 7th non-existent. Passionate plead to vote NO on the charter amendments outside and someone distirbuting Yes literature. Seen inside: rocker/voter Adam Hesed, recent heart attack survivor and art guru Walter Gunn and St. Margaret of Scotland's Father Ron Chochol.

Kirkwood looks strong

Reprinted from comments below:

I voted in Kirkwood this morning at Tillman School -- I got there at 6:10 a.m. -- and I was #141. The line was a little bit shorter when I finished at 7:05 a.m. -- but not much. Only poll workers were a guy for Moveon PAC (looked like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean) and a poll worker for Alan Cotten, who's run for state rep.

Long wait at Soulard

From ward 7, just spoke to a voter who spent 2 hours in line. He says turn-out is "HUGE."

Report from the 10th Ward: Republican school-children attempting to sway parents?

At ward 10, precinct 5 (Kennard School), one voter observes that in the wait to vote (it took her about 50 minutes to vote this morning) there are about 20 children's drawings of elephants - clearly designed to send a subliminal message!

ANOTHER 64th DISTRICT SCREW-UP

I'm in the 28th ( I vote at the Missouri History Museum Library Annex) 2nd precinct. I just got back from voting. The line was short and sweet, and everything seemed to go smoothly. But one really big glitch is that the ballot was set up in such a way that there was a hole you could poke through next to Rachel Storch's name, but not one next to Patricia Verde's name. I called the election judge over, and he said the ballot was screwed up (only in this one precinct, apparently), so if you wanted to vote for Verde, you had to write her in. Another more minor complaint: technically, if a Democratic election judge comes over to talk to you at the vote-o-matic, a Republican has to come with him. Only the one guy came over to talk to me.

As far as the charter amendments go, one of the stakeholders was outside encouraging folks to "think about A,B,C,&D" as they entered.

Report from Ward 15

Ward 15: I got to my polling place, Holy Family, at about 9:45 a.m. The biggest signs were for Kinder; they had a piece of paper attached to them that said "Pro-Life." Tom Braford was handing out "Yes for Home Rule" literature. There was a fairly long wait to get my ballot because the election judge for the L-Z line had to go outside to assist someone with curbside voting. People were getting pretty anxious, and the woman in front of me said, "If I weren't so passionate about my vote, I'd probably just give up and go home." Once I got my ballot, I only had to wait a few minutes to vote.

Report from Gordon Dymowski

I was fortunate enough to be at two polling places - one where I voted (Connect Care); the other where I was distributing literature on behalf of Proposition K (Hamilton School).

At Connect Care at 6:15 am, there already was a long line, about 20 people deep - however, no one was out distributing information. It took about a half hour to get through the line, and secondary lines were forming to get to the machines. There were individuals wearing "Specialist" name tags, and there was heightened activity.

At Hamilton School, there was one gentleman handing out pro-Charter Amendment information, and three handing out anti-Charter Reform information. Around 7:30, Frank Williamson, the alderman, showed up, chewing out one of the volunteers and encouraging the anti-reform individuals to motivate people not to vote. In addition, one of the volunteers was aggressively discouraging people from taking any of the pro-reform literature, even as far as encouraging them not to take any of mine. (I went and clarified that I was distributing literature for Proposition K[www.kforkids.org]). It came fast and furious between 6:30 am and 9:30 am, but began tapering off after that.

Encountered a small contingent for Nancy Farmer (who showed up at 6:30 am to vote, and who left at 7:45); however, once the cameras stopped rolling, the pro-Nancy group departed.

The few times I went inside Hamilton School, the line went completely around the gymnasium - however, it gradually thinned out as time progressed.

Florida: Consistently high turn-out

In a quick interview with 15th ward alderman Jennifer Florida she said that the Get Out the Vote effort was the "best organized effort I've seen in a long time."

Florida is helping run the GOTV effort for several targeted city precincts in wards 5, 6, 8, 17, 18, 19, and 20. She had slotted 45 volunteers and so far she has had 25 walk-ins who weren't even scheduled to volunteer. She expects that over the course of today there will be 75 volunteers working on her targeted precincts.

These volunteers are going door-to-door, knock on the doors of known voters - ask if they've voted, if they need to know where you vote? if they need a ride?

Everywhere turn-out is consistently high, she says, sometimes leading to long lines and waits. In the 17th ward she spoke to a woman who waited two hours to vote. Florida herself only waited 20 minutes in ward 15, though there were 40 people in line there.

Florida says her "hat's off to the coordinated campaign."

Reports from Clayton/Demun

We've received a report of very high turnout in Clayton. In some places, 300 people had voted by 7:30am.

A different report from Demun reports lines where there have never been lines before. People were patient. The mood was energizing.

Another Report from the 28th ward

I'm enjoying your updates from around the City. Keep it up!

I was distributing literature for the 28th Ward Democrats at St. Roch School (precinct 5) this morning. Things are much calmer than the reports from New City School. Turnout was brisk and steady. Voters reported short lines to check in, long lines to get to a voting machine. Typical wait seemed to be about 30-35 minutes. A few voters were leaving because of the lines and saying they would be back.

We had two Move-On volunteers, a Rachel Storch volunteer, a Yes on ABCD and a No on ABCD volunteer. Everyone was friendly and in high spirits. Several undecided voters stopped to hear both sides of the charter amendments.

Rachel Storch stopped by and reported that just before 6 AM about 50 people had been in line waiting for the polls to open at both the Carpenter's Hall and St. James School in Dogtown.

Precinct 6 at New Cote Brilliante Church of God (Skinker & Washington) had voted 256 people out of approximately 889 registered voters by 10 AM. Again,
wait times seemed to be about 1/2 hour to get to a voting machine.

Report from 28th ward

I arrived at my polling place at New Cote Brilliante Church, 6195 Washington Ave. around 8 a.m. There were probably 125 people waiting to vote. Apparently the line had stretched out of the building and down the block earlier in the morning. Only one person walked in and walked out while I was waiting. Vince Schoemehl, Jennifer Olmstead, and Steve Kramer were some of the familiar faces.

I stood in line with a young woman, a college student from Wash U. who was from upstate New York. It was her first time voting in Missouri. She had never experienced our system before and was concerned about lining the card up in the slot and then about the lack of privacy. In New York, you actually get a booth with a curtain and there are levers to pull, no chad! We did 3 verbal run throughs together before she went to vote, we had nothing better to do!

I saw one young man with a very well made Bush '04 Sweatshirt but that was the only indication that I had that someone there was not a Democrat.

I was at the polling place for about an hour. There are two precincts that vote there, Ward 28 precincts 3 and 6. Most people are 6 and there was only one book for the precinct. So people had to wait. That seemed to be the biggest slow down. Otherwise the process went very smoothly.

Outside the polling place there was not the hub-bub there had been in the primary. In fact it was very subdued at about 9 a.m.

Rachelle L'Ecuyer

Report from 14th ward

Ward 14, standing in line to cast a ballot, turn-out looks "very, very good."

Report from 19th ward

19th ward, precinct 7: Really long line. At 10am, 130 people had voted. Folks who arrived at the wrong place are being helped and everything is running smoothly.

Report from 5th Ward

Relatively heavy turn-out. One man handing out Anti-charter amendments lit; Another handing out glossy Pro-charter amendment lit featuring the St. Louis American endorsement.

Report from Ward 8

Ward 8, Precinct 9: Poll workers for both Yes and No on the charter amendments. Presence from MoveOn.org and Just Democracy.

"Interesting Calls"

Morning-

So I am working out of Robin's office today, and we've had some interesting calls... According to one call, there was a 'fake' ballot box outside Baden Branch Library in the City and people were handing out 'sample' ballots and encouraging voters to use that box instead of waiting in line for the real thing...

Also, there are some folks in the Airport Township in Ward 4/ Precinct 76 that have voted for years at Berkley Middle School, but this year they're supposed to go to Berkley Civic Center, but did not receive notification of the change in the mail...

That's what i have for now. And LONG lines everywhere!

Report from 15th Ward

Report from Ward 15, Precinct 1 at Fanning Middle Community Education Center:

6:05 a.m. - Lines were out the gymnasium door with wait voting in Precinct 1 line at an hour. Precinct 4 and 6 of the same Ward had shorter lines. Crowd was mixed. Some were clearly still in pajamas, others were ready to head to work. The ward is pretty diverse and so were the people in the lines. One woman stood outside handing out blue flyers naming Democratic candidates to be used as reference. No one was handing literature about the reform amendments.

Report from the 8th Ward

Friendly crowd of Shaw and Tower Grove East neighbors at Beauvais Manor on the Park. Experienced judges who greeted the regular voters. Claralyn Bollinger sitting in the corner marking down the names of voters. Arriving at 6:30 AM, the process took 45 minutes. Crowd looked larger at 7:15 AM.

The opponent of Proposition A,B,C, and D who put a yard sign in a landscaped lot at Russell and 39th Street should know that the maintenance of the 39th Street lots in overseen by the 39th Street Redevelopment Corp., whose board includes Home Rule supporters Anna Crosslin, Gina Ryan, and Dana Hines. "Something had to be done."

Where's Diatriber?

He's driving a van today. GOTV!

BOTH CANDIDATES LEFT OFF BALLOT - 28th Ward

Both Rachel Storch and her Republican opponent Patricia Verde were left off the ballot of 28th War, 10th Precinct special district ballots. Rodney Hubbard's name appeared in Storch place; there was no Republican name.

Minutes ago, officials arrived with new paper inserts that had the names of both candidates that would be used for the remainder of the day.

From the Shaw Talk listserv

I went out to my car today to find the daily unwanted flyer from the ACT campaign pasted to my windshield. Before anyone gets up in arms, I don't call it unwanted because I agree or disagree with anything they might have to say--I'm too busy constantly rolling up their unsolicited rubbish and throwing it away to notice what they might have to say.

In any case, the person who left today's rubbish on my windshield was kind enough to break my windshield wiper. Thanks ACT. You owe me a windshield wiper. I'm not picky enough to ask you to come to my house to pick up all the trash you've left there, although you might find plenty of it on the streets, as well.

I did notice today that ACT, which on an earlier flyer (I catch a line occasionally, usually while checking to see who is annoying me) claimed not to be funded by any particular political party, reminded me to vote for Claire McCaskill. Huh.

I also noticed that in addition to posting political signs illegally all over public and communal places, politicall parties think it is acceptable to use our US mailboxes as depositories for their flyers. I'm fairly sure those mailboxes are to be used for actual US mail delivered by an actual US mail carrier only, but I'm happy to be corrected on that front.

The good news is that the election will finally be settled by tonight...doh...or by some Thursday in mid-December, more likely.

Yours truly,
Disgruntled on Russell

Report from Ward 13

Here's my little report from Holly Hills. There was no waiting at 8:15 in Ward 13 precinct 2. My neighbors in precinct 4 however were in a line that stretched two walls of the elementary school gym. Go figure. I like to think my poll station workers were extra efficient. Word from early voters on my block (6a.m. folks, was that they waited 1/2 an hour.)

Reporting from St. Louis, I'm Maddie Earnest, signing off.

Report from 25th Ward

Just got back from voting in ward 25 precinct 4 (Cleveland Academy), and the turnout is huge. Long lines out the front door, but things seem to be moving quickly, considering.

Prior to that I was at ward 25 precinct 2 (Scruggs Elementary), and the poll checker was having some problems with a couple of the election judges not being compliant with letting them see the names of the voters. Democratic campaign headquarters has been notified. There was one person handing out "No" literature on the amendments and a Democratic ticket sheet.

Report from the 24th ward

24th ward, 5th precinct: 15 minutes to vote, lines managable for both the 4th and 5th precinct.

Report from 15th ward

At polling place, Holy Family, they started lining up at 6:01am, long lines. Taking people about an hour to vote. One person complained that he was voting underneath a picture of Pope John Paul II.

Report from 5th Ward

Reprinted from comments below:

5th Ward, Precinct 1 polling was quick and orderly as usual this morning at 7am, with only a very short wait in line for a booth. Everyone was friendly, there were less signs than even "less important" elections, and only one fellow handing out the "protect your right to vote" leaflets against ABCD. There was one woman standing outside with a bright safety vest, I expect she was an oversight official.

The diversity of voters across every measure you could think of was inspiring. As was the city's organization: I witnessed an inactive voter being verified against the massive registration book and being given a ballot.

Report from 28th Ward. STORCH'S NAME MISSING?

28th ward, precinct 10: Big lines spilling outside New City School, about 90 people outside. Rachel Storch is on the scene. Word is that her name is missing from some ballots. There are three special district ballots in that area and her name is apparently not on all of them.

Report from 25th ward

In ward 25, Precinct 4: Line of 50+ ever since 5:45am. Well over 500 voters so far this morning.

Polling Place Thread at the Porch

Here are more comments about turn-out/polling experience.

Report from Ward 7

Here's the report from Ward 7 Precinct 4........

..........steadily moving lines, competent judges, no problems.......
..........there was an unidentified man claiming to be with the church
who was preventing any campaign signs being posted on church property

Report from ward 8

Here is my rundown from my polling place at Sherman School, which houses the 8th Ward, precincts 3,5,6.

The entire process was finished for me in twenty minutes, which is shocking, considering that my face fell when I arrived at 6:30 am.

If I had been a 1st time voter, I would have been seriously confused and dismayed, because there was a long line as soon as I arrived through the MAIN door. At 630 am!!

It seems that the longest line upon my arrival were those folks whose names began with the letters L-Z in precinct 5. Eventually (2-3 minutes after I was standing in a line that barely moved), a judge came out to move people along in the right direction.

Precinct 3 had 4 booths and one provisional booth.
Precinct 5 had 8 booths and one provisional booth.
Precinct 6 had 4 booths and one provisional booth.

The lines to check in at precinct 3 was non-existant and two people were voting.
The lines to check in at 6 were about two people deep, with 4 or 5 in line waiting to vote.

When I arrived, the line to check in for precinct 5, A-K was 5 people deep, and the line to check in at pr 5 L-Z was about 30 people deep.

When I left, the line to check in for precinct 5, A-K was about 6 people deep, and the line to check in at precicnt 5, L-Z was about 15 people deep.

The line to vote for precinct 5 was, throughout my time there, about 30 people deep.

Considering all of the above (I voted in pr 5, last name starts with B), the experience was pretty good; it took me approximately ten minutes to get through the voting line, once I got there.

I arrived home at 6:50 a.m. (remember I live five doors from my polling place).

One or two interesting ballot comments:

I very nearly missed voting on Ammendment 3, becuase it was listed on the bottom half of the page immediately following all of the judges listings, which I had not researched enough and quickly flipped through. (I am hangning my head in shame, but I have focused on other issues this election).

The reason I caught this glitch, however, (since I was sort of in a hurry and did not mentally tick through my list of issues), is that my voting booth was a little funky. My ballot was mostly aligned with the platform, but it slid just enough to make me check my ballot (after I pulled it out), making sure that the numbers actually punched matched the way I voted.

As to folks "on the outside":

When I arrived, there was a white guy with the green sheet for the solid Democratic ticket who was assertive as he handed out literature.

There was a nicely dressed guy, African-American, who handed out the material (the 8page newsprint thing that came in the mail plus a simple green sheet) to vote FOR propositions ABCD. He was assertive w/o being aggressive and seemed approachable.

There was another white guy, in jeans, kind of hanging back who distributed a bright yellow 4x6 sheet that simply said: Protect your right to vote Vote No
Amendments ABCD November 2 (Citizens for Voter Rights, Tom Nash Treasurer). He gave me a sheet when I approached him, but my guess is he wouldn't have approached me.

There was another older, bearded, white guy who had a clipboard and was busy talking to someone, so I skipped talking to him. On my way out, I stopped to chat, and he was from MoveOn.org, had a list, was checking folks to see if they had rec'd a call from MoveOn. I told him that I did get a call, but he didn't find me on the list, which didn't seem to matter, since I think his list had people that he was planning to call. Since I already had a call, he left things go at that point.

All in all, only one person left (she was in line at 5, L-K) without voting.

Report from Ward 16

Reprinted from comments below

From Busch Academy Gym – 5910 Clifton – just west of Hampton (Ward 16)

The Dawn Patrol

A little before 6:00 a.m. and still quite dark, I pull into a crammed parking lot and find one of few spots remaining. A long line of people is single file in the parking lot. At about 6:05, I assume doors are opened somewhere as the line begins to move. Out in the parking lot is the ever-gregarious Mario Favazza encouraging folks to vote “no” to A, B, C, and D. (Too bad I won’t be helping him out today.)

Enjoying my part of the Great American Experiment, in line immediately ahead of me is a man in a formal business suit and ahead of him is a guy with his Gas-Local-(whatever number) Union windbreaker. This is what it is all about! Of course there’s the “Hey; how are you?” to recognized parishioners and neighbors. There’s the usual good-dooby suspect, Kerri Bonasch working as an election judge, and less known, yet equally important folks like Our Lady of Sorrows’ Mike Hogan helping out. But despite the “hellos” and “good mornings” there does seem to be a sense of seriousness in the air, at least more so than many elections. I do see a gentleman in full sheriff’s regalia, a female police officer and a well dressed but intense looking election oversight guy milling about the gym (can’t remember exactly what his button said). The gym is quite crowded, but equally orderly and composed.

Its about 6:35 a.m. when I leave Busch and there’s Fred Kratky shaking hands, but where’s my tempting pain-in-the-tail-reason-for-simply-not-getting-a-pure-Democratic/somebody’s-gonna-pay-for-this-BS-Iraq War-ticket Chris Zoellner? Nowhere to be found! This is the thanks I get! My chance to shake hands with the epitome of greatness and he’s not here (equaling his appearances at neighborhood meetings). Sigh.

All-righty, y’all, that’s it. I got to get to work!

23rd Ward Report

REPORT from the 23rd Ward: Took about an hour to vote this morning. A hundred people in line, not stopping, getting longer. Unlike anything ever seen before. Bazillions of signs up, but nobody handing out literature (on account of the rain?). "Never seen so many police." They're making people take off button before they go into the polling place.

Here We Go

REPORT from 6th ward: An early voter, showing up at 6:05 at a polling place reports that there were already 27 people in line. When she left, there were 50 people in line.

REPORT from 9th ward: Election judges were late arriving to one polling place, making those early birds wait and wait. Finally, they voted even though not all the election judges were present. Can this be?

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