Dead Heat

WMUR-TV now shows Kerry and Bush dead even, each with 50% of the vote with 50% of the precincts reporting.

Too Close To Call

The latest results from WMUR-TV show Kerry with 51% and Bush 49% with 23% of the precincts reporting. WMUR says it’s still too close to call.

The gubernatorial race is also neck and neck.

Bush Closing On Kerry

George Bush has 42% of the vote to John Kerry’s 56%, and the gap is closing as 4% of the precincts in New Hampshire have reported their results.

Republican Judd Gregg won re-election to a third term in the US Senate with 57% of the vote.

Kerry Leads In The Granite State

With only 3% of the precincts reporting as the polls closed in New Hampshire at 8PM, John Kerry leads George Bush 61% to 38%, according to WMUR-TV.

The gubernatorial race between incumbent Republican Craig Benson and Democratic challenger is too close to call at this point.

Voter Turnout The Big Story

The heavy voter turnout is the big story in New Hampshire. The polls close at 8pm, but there are still long lines outside many polling places, according the WMUR-TV. Many in line are registering for the first time, this election being the first time they’ve ever voted.

I made a trip to a few towns around the Lakes Region after work and checked in with my parents one town over and I’ve heard the same thing from all of them – Very busy and long lines, with the occasional lull now and then.

Some of the exit polls run by WMUR show a close race in both the presidential and gubernatorial races. It is expected that the incumbents in the congressional races will win re-election: Judd Gregg-® for a third term in the US Senate, and Jeb Bradley-® and Charlie Bass-® representing the 1st and 2nd Congressional districts respectively also defeating their opponents.

NH Secretary Of State Expecting Record Turnout

According to a report by WMUR-TV, Secretary of State William Gardner expects 600,000 of the state’s 800,000 registered voters to cast ballots in today’s election, a record turnout for the Granite State.

As an example of the unusually high turnout, many voters were lined up waiting as the polls opened this morning.

Heavy Voter Turnout

I just returned from voting at my local ward house and found I had to wait in line even at 10:30 in the morning, after the usual vote-before-I-go-to-work crowd had come through. Poll workers there said its been busy since they opened this morning. The other ward houses within Laconia that I passed by to and from voting had full parking lots and numerous other cars parked along the streets. Conversations with co-workers voting in nearby towns show the same.

Phone calls to friends elsewhere in the state, covering a couple of dozen towns, also garnered comments to the effect of “Gee, I haven’t seen this many people turn out since..ummm..forever!”

A brief report on New Hampshire Public Radio also shows heavy voter turnout statewide.

Bush Takes Huge Lead In Voting

The first election results are in from the small town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. The polls opened just after midnight, allowing all of the voters in the small town to vote simultaneously. Once the last registered voter cast their ballot, the polls were closed and the votes tallied. The results:

Bush: 19

Kerry: 7

This gives Bush a commanding 74% to 26% lead over Kerry…..

(Via AP Newswire)

First Votes Cast

[AP Photo]Election Day 2004 is officially under way, with dozens of New Hampshire residents casting their traditional midnight votes. The rest of the nation will go to the polls starting early Tuesday morning.

President George W. Bush is seeking a second term as the 43rd president of the United States. John F. Kerry, a Democrat, is seeking to become the 44th president following a 19-year career in Congress as the junior senator from Massachusetts.

In New Hampshire, two hamlets voted shortly after midnight.

In what could be a sign of things to come in this neck-and-neck race, residents of Hart’s Location gave Bush 16 votes and Kerry 14 votes, The Associated Press reported. Ralph Nader got one vote.

Read more…

Hart's Location a dead heat; Nader a spoiler!

Bush won early this morning in a 19-7 landslide in Dixville Notch, NH, which is no surprise given the town’s Republican-leaning tendencies.

But in New Hampshire’s other early-voting hamlet, Hart’s Location, it’s a tie! How fitting in this deadlocked election. The tally: Bush 15, Kerry 15, Nader 1.

Hey, look, Ralph Nader cost Kerry the election! :)

So, if you’re keeping score at home, with something like 0.01% of the precincts reporting, it’s Bush 34, Kerry 22, Nader 1 in the Granite State.

Governor's Race Too Close To Call

The governor’s race in New Hampshire is too close to call, according to a poll by WMUR-TV.

The WMUR-Granite State poll shows Republican incumbent Craig Benson with 47% and his Democratic challenger John Lynch with 46%, with a margin of error of 3.1%. Undecided voters totaled 5%.

Ballot Question In NH To Decide Control Of Court Rules

Besides the presidential, congressional, gubernatorial and local races being decided in New Hampshire on November 2nd, there is also a ballot question to amend the New Hampshire state constitution to restore legislative oversight to judicial policies, procedures, and rules.

From the Union Leader (Manchester, NH) comes this explanation of the proposed amendment:

Voters statewide will cast ballots tomorrow on a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would allow the Legislature to exert authority over the rules of the state judiciary.

The amendment would allow laws passed in Concord to trump court-imposed rules regarding court administration and practices, and the admissibility of evidence. The constitution now gives the state Supreme Court authority over those practices.

A similar proposal was on the 2002 ballot, with 63 percent of those voting favoring it. It requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

A Union Leader editorial expressed the views of many about the need for the change:

Part II, Article 73-a of the state constitution was added in 1978 to give the chief justice of the Supreme Court the constitutional authority to make rules governing court administration, practice and procedure. Historically, both the courts and the Legislature had been considered to have this authority, but nothing in the constitution expressly said the courts had it. Part II, Article 73-a simply clarified that the court could do what it always had done.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has construed that amendment in such a way as to deny the Legislature its historical authority to also write rules for the courts. To get that authority back, the Legislature has written another amendment, which will be on next week’s ballot as Question 1. It simply restores the Legislature’s authority to write rules “of general application” for the courts. Rules written by the Legislature must apply generally and may not violate any other provision of the constitution.

It is not known whether the ballot question will pass this time.

Paugus Diner Poll^©

I’ve finished tallying the results for the latest (and last) Paugus Diner Poll^© of this election season. I must remind you that this is by no means a scientific poll. I have no idea what the margin of error might be. All I did was ask random people in and around the Paugus Diner in Laconia, New Hampshire if they were going to vote in the upcoming election here in New Hampshire (I didn’t want to skew the results with respondents from out of state). If they answered “Yes”, I asked which Presidential candidate they were going to vote for. Once I had 100 responses I stopped. (Hey, it’s easier to calculate percentages if I use a sample of 100…)

The results:

Bush: 52%

Kerry: 46%

Nader: 1%

McCain: 1%

I did remind the one respondent that John McCain wasn’t running, but he didn’t seem to mind because he was going to write in his name on the ballot.

Again, a reminder: This is not a scientific poll. It was taken in one small area of New Hampshire along the shores of Paugus Bay on Lake Winnipesaukee over a period of two days.

Cross-posted to Weekend Pundit.