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A woman votes in Ohio, where people are allowed to fill out provisional ballots that can take 10 days to be verified. This could delay the outcome of the election. (Tony Dejak/Associated Press)

This is it - or is it?

BY Dave Ross  on November 6, 2012 @ 8:21 am (Updated: 4:13 pm - 11/6/12 )

UPDATE:

Expressing confidence but leaving nothing to chance, President Barack Obama indulged his superstitions by engaging in a traditional Election Day basketball game with friends.

Obama won after he gave a final exhortation to his volunteers to get out the vote, voiced optimism about his chances, and congratulated rival Mitt Romney on a "spirited campaign."

"I expect that we'll have a good night," he said.

The president headed into Election Day locked in a close race with Romney, according to national polls. But he appeared to have a slight edge in some key battlegrounds that will decide the contest, including Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wrote a 1,118-word victory speech on Tuesday as he concluded his yearslong quest for the presidency claiming he had no regrets.

"I feel like we put it all on the field. We left nothing in the locker room. We fought to the very end, and I think that's why we'll be successful," Romney told reporters aboard his plane as he flew from Pittsburgh to Boston.

Dave's Commentary:

We had an omen at midnight from Dixville Notch, NH:

"This has never happened before in Dixville," said one of town's poll-watchers. "We have a tie. Five votes each."

What do you want to bet those ten voters sat down over waffles and planned it that way. Waffle intoxication - sadly an epidemic in northern New Hampshire.

There are some people predicting the opposite of a tie: Bob Dylan interrupted Blowin' in the Wind at a concert in Wisconsin to predict an Obama landslide. Jim Cramer from Mad Money predicted that Obama will get 440 electoral votes, which would mean Obama wins in Texas and Georgia - even though they are clearly not swing states. And then on the other side there's Newt Gingrich.

"My personal guess is that you'll see a Romney landslide: 300 electoral votes-plus, and we may come very close to capturing the Senate in that context," said Gingrich.

But the other scenario is that it comes down to the provisional votes in Ohio.

In Ohio, provisional ballots are very common; that means that if you show up and your name isn't on the registration list or there's some other problem, you still get to vote but the ballot isn't counted right away. It's put aside. And you have 10 days to produce enough ID to prove you're a bona fide voter.

Well, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin says there could be as many as 200,000 provisional ballots in Ohio. And if this is as close as most people are predicting:

"You're going to have, essentially, 200,000-plus people with lawyers from the campaign saying 'look, my voters are legitimate' and election officials are going to have to adjudicate each one of those," said Toobin.

Can you imagine that situation? By the time that battle is through the economy will have fixed itself. The employment numbers for lawyers alone would do it.

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (11)


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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Barring Ohio, we should know the presidency by 9 ot 10 tonight.
    November 6, 2012 8:24 am
    Washington State races ??? ... try next week, IF we're lucky.

    In our forever quest to make things easier to vote (or is it just that it doesn't cost as much, all mail ballots)(BONUS: well over $1M in stamps to the USPS), we won't even HAVE more than 60% of our votes in until Thursday. And in close races, like if %5 of the vote could make a difference, we won't know for a couple of weeks.

    Kinda like the 19th century. And, oh, a mail loss of 2% apparently IS acceptable. Or.... could THOSE be the ballots King County seems to find?

    Dave, other states may have delays due to Sandy and provisional ballots. ... But is the whole country voted like Washington, Obama could LOOSE the election and still serve a year or so until all the votes and recounts are finally in.

    Funny, whenever a newly freed 3rd world county votes, we all hale democracy when those new voters go to polls and hold up their purple fingers to prove they've voted. .............. In Washington State, the only finger WE get to see is from Elections officials.

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  • cdbtx wrote...
    I actually
    November 6, 2012 9:54 am
    liked BilL OReilly's comment last night.. if Obama wins Florida, we may as well switch channels to Jersey Girls.. the election is over..
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Mitt Romney's son owns all the electronic voting machines in Ohio?
    November 6, 2012 10:37 am
    If so, oh my.

    Nothing like a well placed relative during a disputed election. Having your son counting the votes in Ohio is probably at least as good as having your younger brother serving as governor of Florida. :-)

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  • logical open mind wrote...
    chuck point me to this evidence of romneys son and Ohio.
    November 6, 2012 10:46 am
    or are you once again in liberal paranoia.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Logical Open Mind........Here you go
    November 6, 2012 12:33 pm
    http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13221476-romney-family-buys-voting-machines-through-bain-capital-investment

    I think it's absurd that states "rent" voting machines from private companies, especially when those companies are eager to make statements like "I'm going to deliver this state to [insert candidate's name]" as was done prior to the 2004 election.

    There is no effective way for the public to audit the results tabulated by these pro-programmed computers.

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  • mnpat wrote...
    Even if "O-guy" loses
    November 6, 2012 10:38 am
    I'm sure we will keep having recounts until they find enough votes for him to be the winner.....worked for the queen.
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  • Forrest wrote...
    I really don't care for Obama...
    November 6, 2012 10:38 am
    But I really hope Mitt returns to his home planet, Kolob. I would hate to see four more years of George Bush's economic policy revisited. I'm also not sure our warriors can fight another war or whether or not the taxpayers can afford one.
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  • William Armstrong wrote...
    To say nothing of:
    November 6, 2012 10:47 am
    Taking womens' rights back to the 50s, taking peoples' health care away, balancing the budget on the backs of the elderly and making it even easier to hide his money offshore so he doesn't have to pay taxes himself.

    So does he tell his lies then run off to his Temple and ask for forgiveness or do all Mormons lie?

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  • logical open mind wrote...
    Forest-Bush was NOT a fiscal conservative and libertarians and conservatives alike hated his spending.
    November 6, 2012 10:50 am
    But four more years of his economic policy? What specificly do you mean? Also, do you remember a thing called 9-11? The resulting meltdown of the economy can't be understated. This is why the tax cuts were implemented. At the time there was very little Dem opposition to these cuts. Stop being in love with any politician, even Obama and any political party and it will open your eyes to rational, open minded observance.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    I hate to tell you, forrest, war with Iran is MORE LIKELY under Obama.
    November 6, 2012 12:04 pm
    No cooperation (read: restraint), BiBi attacks Iran all by his lonesome. ... Israel get in a bind and Obama has to rescue. ....... Then its a far worse war than you could ever believe.

    I'm not totally sure of Romney vis-a-vis Israel, but that would be a better shot to contain a very nasty confrontation over nukes.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • artimus wrote...
    ron prevost - "I'm not totally sure..."
    November 6, 2012 1:01 pm
    You're awesome - "let me condescendingly explain to you something that I myself do not understand". Bet you're a big hit at the neighborhood BBQ....
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