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NOVEMBER 8, 2006: THOUGHTS AFTER THE MIDTERM ELECTION
I set my sights low this time, to avoid the feelings of deep disappointment i have gotten every time over the last 6 years. All i was hoping for was Santorum to be soundly defeated, and I was very worried about that. So I am thrilled with the results. Not only did the door hit Santorum on the way out, but Gerlach came close to losing it, and we now have a House majority and possibly a Senate majority. Democrats won because, this time, they were seen as more moderate and sensible, and less corrupt and arrogant, than the Republicans. The Republicans hopefully learned that just spouting "liberal" as an epithet won't work any more. I am proud that Americans showed themselves to be smarter than that once and for all.
Locally, I am very disappointed that Olivia Brady did not win. She was a great candidate who would have made a great Representative. I think her district is just more Republican than is generally recognized. people are still confused about the time John Lawless came so close as a Democrat back in 2002.
On the other hand, I am pleased to see that Netta Young Hughes is still in the race. Though the unofficial tally has her down less than a quarter percent (69 votes), the race is still too close to call. It was very strange to see the switch happen online at midnight from being up 53% to 46% with 25/29 precincts counted, and then suddenly switching to see Moyer up by 69 votes with the 29/29 precincts counted. I could imagine such a switch if those last few precincts were in Worcester, or Lower Salford, but from what I hear, the last precincts to be counted were in Norristown. If that is true, there is no way that the numbers would have shifted that way. I am sure this will be looked into during the inevitable recount.
There were also some errors with absentee ballots that occurred in the precinct I watched (Skippack 1). Many of the absentee ballots (and there were many) received at Skippack 1 were the wrong ballot, with the Buchanan/Mesch race listed instead of the Hughes/Moyer race. Someone back at the Elections Commission office apparently made some kind of boo-boo when they packaged up the ballots. Netta should not be made to suffer for their mistake. There may be several more lost absentee votes to clarify with respect to the Hughes/Moyer race, especially if similar errors were experienced in other precincts.
Netta's race is therefore not over and this unofficial result will not go uncontested. I expect that the challenge will go on, and that Netta will emerge as the victor.
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