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Super Tuesday results remain undetermined
Beverly Condgon | 2/6/08 | World News
n unprecedented voting turnout was expected in Super Tuesday nation-wide elections. A record number of 24 states held primaries and caucuses on Feb. 5.
California is the state with the most delegates available to both parties. The state’s decisive results won’t be determined until at least midday Wednesday, reported FOX News network affiliate KASA.
For the Republican Party, 170 delegates will be allocated separately to the winner of each of the 53 congressional districts. The overall winner of the state will receive eleven at-large delegates. GOP chairman and two other Republican National Committee members will vote to allocate the three unpledged delegates.
For the Democratic Party, Clinton and Obama will receive proportional delegates out of 370 available delegates. A candidate must secure at least 15 percent of the vote in order to receive any delegates. The party awards three to six delegates per congressional district in accordance to the votes of each candidate. After this calculation, the additional 129 delegates will be awarded to candidates based upon the overall Californian vote.
The California election results won’t be clear until later than usual. Many counties are using paper ballots, which must be manually fed into scanners and thus will slow down the results.
Exit polls showed tight races with no definite winners but projected Clinton and McCain as each party’s frontrunners. A projected 50 percent of voters mailed in absentee ballots, which can alter the exit polls’ results significantly.
“All indications are we are going to have a record turnout for the California presidential primary, but we won’t know that for sure until we’ve counted the last ballot,” said Secretary of Sate Debra Bowen (LA Times).
The Indian gaming proposals endorsed by Gov. Schwarzenegger were the only propositions that will pass, as projected by exit polls. The contest for Proposition 93 concerning term limits is too close to call at this point.
Non-partisan voters voiced complaints about the trouble casting their ballot, state officials said (AP).
Under state rules, California’s Republican primary is only open to registered Republican voters. Voters who “decline to state” a political party, more frequently referred to as independents, complained about not being allowed to vote in the Democratic primary.
The issue caused Bowen to issue a news release late today. She clarified that “decline to state” voters were rightfully allowed to request a ballot to vote in the Democratic Party primary. The Democratic Party officially intended an open-election primary; therefore Independents would be allowed a vote in the Democratic primaries with the request of a special ballot.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters consulted with a judge to keep 14 polling places open until 10 p.m. because ballots ran out. The polling places were located in Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward and Fremont. (San Francisco Chronicle)
"With every election we do hear of pockets of confusion. This time around we are again hearing of some isolated incidents but the election is running smoothly across the state," said a Bowen spokeswoman, Nicole Winger, to the LA Times.
The battle is tough in the other 23 Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses and exit polls results vary for each state.
Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, who has been at a distant third overall, was the projected winner in West Virginia and several other southern states, according to the LA Times. FOX News, on the other hand, reported McCain as the frontrunner and Romney close behind.
Republican candidate Sen. John McCain clung to his bragging rights to a crowd of Phoenix supporters. “Tonight I think we must get used to the idea that we are the Republican Party front-runner. And I don’t really mind it one bit,” he said (FOX News).
Romney showed confidence in Boston. “One thing that’s clear is this campaign is going on…We’re going to keep on battling. We’re going to go all the way to the [Republican national] convention. We’re going to win this thing and we’re going to get in to the White House,” the former Massachusetts Governor said Tuesday night (FOX News).
“A lot of people have been trying to say that this is a two-man race. Well, you know what — it is, and we’re in it,” said Huckabee in response to what some would call “surprise” victories (FOX News).
The Democratic Party race is less clear. Candidates Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton have tight races throughout the other 23 states.
Clinton is expected to be winning in at least eight states, including the more delegate-rich states, such as California and New York. Obama, meanwhile, as reported by the LA Times, is expected to round up at least 12 states including Utah, Colorado, Georgia and home-state Illinois. FOX News reported that he was the frontrunner in 14 Super-Tuesday elections.
Hillary renewed confident campaigning despite some projected upset wins by Obama. “Tonight in record numbers you voted not just to make history but to remake America. We know what we need is someone ready on day one to solve our problems.” Clinton said from New York (FOX News).
The overall contest winner for each party’s nomination will be uncertain until after the March 4 primaries of Texas and Ohio.
Both Clinton and Obama’s campaigns said they were optimistic about the results, but anticipate the race to continue for possibly even months as they battle for delegates all the way up to the nominating convention.
"We're both prepared for a long, drawn-out affair," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe (LA Times).
As for now, Super Tuesday, as expected, did not make clear the two candidates that will continue on to campaign for the November ’08 election.
On the Democratic side, 1,681 delegates were available on Super Tuesday and 2,025 are needed to secure the party’s nomination. For Republicans, 1,023 delegates were up for grabs while only 1,191 are needed to win the Republican nomination. No candidate yet has enough delegates to secure his or her nomination.
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