Barber/McSally race in Tucson

[Kumbricia]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/us-usa-campaign-barber-idUSBRE8A629320121107


Republican leads ex-Giffords aide in Arizona House race
Photo
3:00pm EST

By Jazmine Woodberry

TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - A Republican challenger maintained a slight lead on Wednesday over U.S. Representative Ron Barber, a former aide to Democrat Gabrielle Giffords who was wounded alongside the congresswoman in a deadly shooting last year.

With thousands of ballots still to be counted, Martha McSally, a retired Air Force colonel and former combat pilot, was ahead of Barber by a slender 1,312 votes, the Arizona Secretary of State's office reported.

About 40,000 early ballots and another 40,000 provisional ballots have yet to be counted, the Pima County Recorder's Office said. There were 220,812 votes cast.

Barber, 66, had been considered the front-runner in the contest for the newly created 2nd District. He won a special election in June to serve out the term of Giffords, who suffered a head wound when a gunman opened fire with a semiautomatic pistol at an event at which she was speaking in Tucson. Six people were killed and 13 were wounded.

"The race remains too close to call. Thousands of ballots have yet to be counted, the exact number of which are to be determined," Barber aide Jessica Floyd said in a statement.

Floyd said there were reports of "numerous problems" with voting in Pima County, although she did not specify what they were.

"We will continue to monitor this process and hope to ensure that every person who voted in Southern Arizona has their voice heard," she said.

McSally, 46, was the first U.S. woman pilot to fly in combat, completing two tours in the Middle East. She said she had no indication from election officials when the final tally might be released, but felt optimistic.

"This is not a traditional ending to our general election, but I guess there's nothing traditional about my life so far, so why start now?" she told reporters at a news conference.

"We're not surprised that we're in this position ...We've been telling people all along this is going to be a very close race," she added.

McSally campaigned on a platform of cutting federal regulations and reducing debt and taxes. She also pledged to tighten security on the porous U.S.-Mexico border.

Barber was boosted by an endorsement from Giffords, whose popularity and political stature soared as she battled through a difficult recovery.

Giffords, who moved back to her native Arizona earlier this year after undergoing rehabilitation in Houston, turned out with Barber to vote early at a Tucson polling station on Monday.

(Writing by Tim Gaynor; Additional reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

[Kumbricia]

1. They're counting provisionals and early ballots

I voted early. I wonder if there's a higher % of Dem voters who vote early and/or provisionally than Republicans?

[Kumbricia]

2. Sinema & Barber leading (Phoenix New Times)

Election 2012
Ron Barber Now Leads Martha McSally; Kyrsten Sinema Widens Gap Against Vernon Parker
By Matthew Hendley Mon., Nov. 12 2012 at 9:36 AM
5 Comments
Categories: Election 2012


The vote count is the same as when we checked with the Maricopa County Recorder's office earlier this morning -- Sinema's up nearly 5,800 votes -- but that appears to be a solid-enough lead. Read the full update on CD-9.
As more votes from CD-9 are counted, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema's lead over Republican Vernon Parker continues to increase, as Sinema is now up by nearly 5,800 votes.

There's still a healthy amount of votes left to be counted, but down in CD-2 -- where there are far fewer votes left to be counted -- Democratic Congressman Ron Barber has taken back the lead from Republican challenger Martha McSally.

See also:
-Kyrsten Sinema's Lead Growing Over Vernon Parker as More Ballots Are Counted
-Rich Carmona 4.06 Points Down, Kyrsten Sinema Gains, and 524,633 Votes Left
-Arizona's Congressional Elections: Good, Bad, and Ugly
-Kyrsten Sinema, Vernon Parker and Why Top-Two Was and Is a Dumb Idea
-Can Kyrsten Sinema Win in Congressional District 9?

In the freshest count from the Maricopa County Recorder, released yesterday, Sinema now has 100,486 votes, to Parker's 94,697, meaning Sinema's taken in nearly 2,000 more votes than Parker just since Friday, when she led by fewer than 4,000 votes.

Yesterday, Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell reported 140,000 early ballots and 122,000 provisional ballots still waiting to be processed and tabulated.

Parker could still pull off a victory, although keep in mind that only a fraction of those remaining votes came from voters within CD-9.

Down in Tucson, the Pima County Elections Department says it has about 30,000 votes left to count, as of yesterday. Most of CD-2 is in Pima County.

That doesn't make Barber's lead of just 330 votes safe by any means. McSally had a lead on Barber until this weekend, and was up by more than 1,200 votes on Wednesday.

Interestingly, if Barber and Sinema were to hold on to their leads, Arizona would be sending more Democrats than Republicans to the House of Representatives. If just one of them loses, then Republicans would have the advantage.

[Kali]

3. this story is old - from last Wednesday

Barber is up by 700 votes as of this afternoon.