Despite being down by 356 votes after Saturday's electronic voting, Democratic candidate Paul Carmouche has not conceded the election. He told Shreveport's KTBS Saturday night:
Carmouche said he wants to see what happens when voting machines are rechecked on Tuesday. He said he also wanted to make sure that all provisional ballots -- paper ballots cast when there is a problem at a polling place -- have been counted.
So, keep your powder dry folks ... this thing ain't over yet.
One more point ... there is a discrepancy between the text-based site and the flash-based site, both run by the Secretary of State's office, in terms of the % of the precincts reporting. The text-based site is reporting 100% as of 11:21 PM CST, but the flash-based site is only reporting 95% as of 11:22 PM CST. Which is it, Mr. Secretary?
With 492 precincts in this district, we'll likely not be done anytime soon. The New Orleans precincts that Jefferson will be counting on to push him over the top will likely not come in until 10 PM CST.
With all 492 in:
Candidate
Votes
% of Vote
Joseph Cao (R)
33,122
50%
Bill Jefferson (D)
31,296
47%
Malik Rahim (G)
1,880
3%
There are still 101 precincts to come in from New Orleans itself. The newspapers and CNN are calling it for Cao. Holy crap, a wingnut Republican just won in a majority black district. We're gonna have no Democratic representation in the House, save for Charlie Melancon.
And for the Third District State Senate seat, there are 87 precincts to report. With 78 of 106 in:
Although the Secretary of State is reporting that Fleming (R) has 356 more votes tonight in the unofficial tallies of electronic and absentee voting. Might it be provisional ballots? What's causing the AP to hold back?
Aight, we've got 640 precincts in this district ... it's a large district, roughly the size of the entire state of Rhode Island, methinks. With 640 of 640 precincts in:
Candidate
Votes
% of Vote
Paul Carmouche (D)
44,141
47.69%
John Fleming (R)
44,497
48.07%
It's down to Bossier Parish, y'all ... a traditionally GOP parish. Folks, this one is gonna get REALLY REALLY REALLY close. All precincts in save for 37 from Bossier Parish.
The numbers are not going to add up to 100% because there are two minor party candidates that will only take roughly 3-4% of the vote at the most. My guess is they'll combine for 2% when it's all in.
Well, Part I dealt with outright victories, Part II dealt with intra-party runoffs. I now will deal with the results for the inter-party runoffs. have been completed. There are 17 runoffs between members of differing parties, with 16 of them being the traditional DEM v. GOPer runoff, and one - House District 55 being between a Democrat and an Independent. These are the races, that on November 17th, will determine whether the Democrats or the Republicans take the reins of the State House.
Let's start with the DEM v. Independent before moving on to the more traditional DEM v. GOPer: HD 55
37 of 37 precincts reporting
"Jay" Caillouet (D) - 24.62%
Alfred "Al" Carter (R) - 10%
Michael "Mike" Matherne (D) - 24.63%
Jerome "Dee" Richard (No Party) - 40.6%
Well, I have finally found the time to finish compiling the House races into an easy to understand order. On Tuesday, I published the outright victories that both the Democrats and Republicans achieved in the jungle primary held this past Saturday. Part II is a compilation of the intra-party runoffs that will also be held on November 17th. While they will draw attention, as they should, they are not as important to the overall picture of the State House, as they do not affect who will be in the majority.
Let's start with the 11 DEM v. DEM runoffs, as the Democrats currently hold a 3 seat lead, before getting into the 12 GOPer v. GOPer runoffs below the jump:
(We're looking at definite run-offs in the Agriculture Commissioner's race, and the Attorney General's race. Potential run-offs in the Insurance Commissioner's race, as well as in the Governor's race. As of 9:50 PM CST, I'm calling the Secretary of State's race for Republican "Jay" Dardenne, and the Lt. Governor's race for Democrat Mitch Landrieu. As of 11:00 PM CST, I'm calling the Governor's race for "Bobby" Jindal. Congratulations, Mr. Jindal. By the way, God Save Our State. - promoted by ryan)
Welcome! For all you out-of-state visitors, we have a weird (to y'all) system in electing folks here. Everyone runs against everybody in an open primary the first time around. If no one gets 50% of the vote, then we take the top two finishers and place them in a runoff, 30 days later, which this year falls on November 17th.
Governor
Walter Boasso (D)- 17%
Foster Campbell (D)- 12%
John Georges (I)- 14%
"Bobby" Jindal (R)- 54%
