Archives > Newsday Special: The Mid Terms
11/7/06: News Article Roundup
nacho:
--- Quote --- A poll worker was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault and interfering with an election for allegedly choking a voter and pushing him out the door, officials said.
It apparently started as a dispute between the two over marking the ballot, said Lt. Col. Carl Yates of the Jefferson County sheriff's office.
The voter told poll worker Jeffery Steitz that he didn't want to vote in a judicial election because he didn't know enough about the candidates, but Steitz told him he had to vote in the race anyway, Yates said.
Steitz, 42, eventually grabbed the man by the neck and threw him out of the polling place, Yates said.
"The poor guy went back in and he threw him out again," Yates said. "At least it wasn't over a Democrat or a Republican being on the ballot."
Election officials called police.
"That about tops off the day," said Paula McCraney, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County clerk's office.
There was no immediate response to a call seeking comment from Steitz at his home.
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nacho:
--- Quote --- S.C. Governor Turned Away by Poll Worker
Nov 07 1:13 PM US/Eastern
Even the governor needs the right ID to vote in South Carolina.
Gov. Mark Sanford learned that lesson the hard way Tuesday _ he had to make a second trip to his Sullivans Island polling place because he forgot his voter identification card the first time. The poll workers, following the rules, had turned him away.
"I hope my luck turns," Sanford said. "Yesterday, I had the eye issue, today I was absent-minded and didn't have my voter registration card."
The first lady's identification was in order, and she was allowed to vote, said poll Manager Bob Crawford at the Sullivans Island Elementary School. But the governor showed a driver's license with a Columbia address the first time, and that didn't cut it. He said Sanford came back about 90 minutes later and cast his ballot.
Sanford has had a tough few days.
The Republican, running for a second term, burned his eyes under bright stage lights on Sunday and had to skip campaigning on Monday to go to the doctor and recuperate.
Sanford's eyes were red and watery as he stood in line at the voting site on Tuesday, but he said, "It's behind me and the prognosis is good.
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fajwat:
--- Quote from: nacho on November 07, 2006, 05:32:31 PM ---
--- Quote --- A poll worker was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault and interfering with an election... Steitz, 42, eventually grabbed the man by the neck and threw him out of the polling place, Yates said.
"The poor guy went back in and he threw him out again," Yates said. "At least it wasn't over a Democrat or a Republican being on the ballot."
--- End quote ---
--- End quote ---
that's the bees knees. it's not even true (that you have to fill in every blank), nor has it been anywhere for, well, since I can remember. besides even if it were true you might get fictional write in candidates winning, like Mickey Mouse.
nacho:
Or Nacho Sasha!
fajwat:
Kick ass!! Double credit for diversity!
Seriously, tho, I'm stoked (stoated) about including a Muslim in the House debates.
http://www.startribune.com/10120/story/786533.html
--- Quote from: Star Tribune ---Last update: November 07, 2006 – 9:14 PM
Ellison first Muslim elected to Congress
Fifth District voters made history by making him the first Muslim in the nation and the first black person from Minnesota to go to the U.S. House. Ellison defeated his two main opponents by ratios of more than two-to-one.
Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune
Fifth District voters made history Tuesday by sending state Rep. Keith Ellison of Minneapolis to Congress, the first Muslim in the nation and the first black person from Minnesota to go to the U.S. House.
Ellison will succeed 28-year veteran Martin Sabo after defeating his two main opponents -- Republican Alan Fine and Independence Party candidate Tammy Lee -- by ratios of more than two-to-one.
His campaign attracted attention because of his groundbreaking status -- and also because of controversy. The 43-year-old Detroit native and married father of four came to Minneapolis in the late 1980s to attend law school at the University of Minnesota.
Travel executive Lee, of Golden Valley, had urged voters to make her the first Independence Party candidate elected to Congress. University of Minnesota business teacher Fine sought to become the rare Republican elected in the district that includes Minneapolis and inner-ring suburbs.
Vote totals were not complete by late evening, but Ellison's vote tally didn't appear to reach the 70 percent Sabo received in 2004. The smaller margin likely was a reflection of the competitiveness, the addition of a high-profile third-party candidate and Ellison's problems.
The 2006 campaign began on St. Patrick's Day when word got out that Sabo would be retiring at the end of this term.
The DFL field filled up fast as candidates lined up.
Less than two months later, DFLers conferred a decisive endorsement on Ellison, stunning his opponents. But several others stayed in the race, including former state DFL Chair Mike Erlandson, a long-time aide to Sabo whom the congressman endorsed.
Ellison stumbled badly throughout the summer and was declared a "dead man walking" by one political publication. Reports surfaced of unpaid parking tickets, a driver's license revocation, late tax payments and overdue campaign finance report filings. Ellison also was forced to respond to inquires about his relationship to the Nation of Islam and controversial leader, Rev. Louis Farrakhan, who has made anti-Semitic comments.
Ellison said he was never a member of the nation, but that he helped organize the Minnesota contingent to Farrakhan's Million Man March in 1995 in Washington, D.C. Ellison said the message of connecting black men to their families was appealing.
He won by a hearty margin in the primary. But the next day, Fine held a news conference to say he was offended "as a Jew" by Ellison's candidacy. Throughout the fall campaign, he spent his time attacking.
He questioned Ellison repeatedly about the Nation of Islam and the DFLer always denied membership. Fine said "character matters" but when a Star Tribune report talked about his own domestic assault arrest in 1995 - and its subsequent expungement - he accused the paper of trying to fix the election.
He tried to tie Ellison to terrorists, saying the Council on American-Islamic Relations had ties to Hamas. High-profile members of CAIR supported Ellison's campaign.
Ellison tried to emphasize a message of "peace first," health care for all and environmental advocacy and economic justice.
The DFLer seldom spoke of his status as a groundbreaking contender nor did he run television commercials in either the primary or the general election.
His campaign focused on a vigorous direct-mail and get-out-the-vote effort. "People want to be touched," Ellison said Tuesday evening as he shook hands at a light-rail transit station at Minneapolis City Hall.
Ellison's 18-year-old son, Isaiah, a freshman at Drake University in Iowa, came home for one day to campaign with his father. "I wouldn't miss this for anything," Isaiah said as he watched his dad shake hands.
Although he has been deluged by national and international media attention, Ellison said, "History has yet to hit me in the head. I have yet to feel historic."
Lee campaigned as a socially progressive, fiscally responsible candidate, saying she would address education, health care and the national debt while pursuing a "rational" exit strategy from Iraq.
Fine relentlessly attacked until the end. He sent out his only mailing to voters just before the election, a hard-hitting piece that brought up all of the DFLer's associations and past troubles. In their final debate, Fine compared accused Ellison of talking like Hitler.
The Republican occasionally spoke about holding down taxes and a multinational approach to the war in Iraq.
Staff Writer Curt Brown contributed to this report.
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