Kissell NC-08 closing gap

This race is still within grasp of winning. When the votes are counted, they are going Larry's way. Robin Hayes, the Republican incumbent, now has only a 329 vote lead over Kissell, making this the tightest recount race in the country.

Thank you Larry for counting every vote. This is just another example of why we have rallied all over the country for you. We need Democrats like you in congress.

A count of provisional ballots and a machine recount that ended Wednesday revealed that Hayes’ margin diminished by nearly 150 votes since he declared victory over Kissell on Election Night two weeks ago.

Next week election officials will manually recount ballots in 3 percent of precincts. A statewide manual recount will be triggered if the sampling reveals a stastical inconsistency.

Kissell spokesman Steve Hudson said the recount had uncovered ballots with arrows and punched holes that clearly indicated a candidate but had not previously been counted. “It kind of confirms what we’ve been observing, that there are still votes to be counted,” he said.

Crossing our fingers and sending money for your  campaign debt  and your recount fund. Go Larry!

•  are they optical scan ballots?

  During the Deeds recount in Virginia last year, we were told that between 1 in 500 and 1 in 1000 optical scan ballots were undercounted (due to arrows, punched holes, etc.).   If that is so, and there are 120,000 ballots, it is very unlikely that 329 votes can be made up.   Of course, they should count them anyway--"unlikely" doesn't mean "impossible".

  by science on Fri Nov 24, 2006 at 06:42:30 AM PDT

  •  sorry, don't know

    Perhaps someone from that district can answer this.

    by roonie on Fri Nov 24, 2006 at 07:05:05 AM PDT

•  Thanks to Larry Kissell

  for standing up for all our rights!

  by nannyboz on Fri Nov 24, 2006 at 06:50:05 AM PDT

•  fingers cramping from leaving 'em crossed

  We already had a wonderful Election Day as election days go, but if this seat flipped, it would really be something to celebrate!

  If it doesn't, I still think we can flip it in 2008, but we would have lost the benefit of surprise, and it will cost more.

  by Christopher Walker on Fri Nov 24, 2006 at 06:52:38 AM PDT

•  Yet Another Case

  Of why Democrats need to promote, and advertise, 'how to' localized instructions on voting.  This should start out in precincts and move up to national campaigns.

  Voting mistakes happen everywhere, not just in a few inner-city locations.  People become confused while actually voting, and often cannot be helped by election officials in the polling place.  I know, I've worked on the inside in many elections and see this often.

  The actual act of voting should be as simple as possible, especially given the wide range of American's who do vote.  A lot of people freak out when they vote, some even can't recall their names or addresses when asked by the person checking them in.  

  It's a shame Democrats allow such things to happen, since most of these voters tend to be from our party.  On the other side, I've rarely seen Republican voters have problems voting.  I'm sure some do, and we should encourage them to learn how to vote as well.

  It should be our goal to eliminate, or reduce to as near zero as we can, the undervotes and confused voting we've seen in recent years.  A national, Democrat led how to vote course, I feel, will help bring us to that goal.

  by vetman on Fri Nov 24, 2006 at 07:04:37 AM PDT

•  Do you happen to know

  how much campaign debt Larry has?  He was part of my Daily Donation series and if he needs the help, I'd like to add him to the WGYB page.  Thanks!

  by cmanaster on Fri Nov 24, 2006 at 08:29:10 AM PDT