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50th District Observations
By Greg L | 8 November 2006 | 50th HOD District | 1 Comment
The closest race in the 50th District was the Allen/Webb contest with a margin in favor of Senator Allen of 329 votes. The Miller/Rishell contest was second with an 861 vote margin in favor of Jackson Miller, and the Wolf/Feder was next with a 1963 vote margin. Ignoring ballot initiatives two and three which were largely non-controversial, the Marriage Amendment led the ticket with a 3791 vote margin, a much stronger performance than expected.
The Prince William County portions of the 50th provided a stronger margin in favor of Corey Stewart (298 votes) than for Jackson Miller (12 votes), which defied conventional wisdom. Only in the Stonewall precinct which was a targeted precinct for the Jackson Miller campaign did Jackson Miller out-poll Corey Stewart, otherwise Corey led in the balloting.
Turnout in the 50th appeared very heavy due to the long lines observed in all polling places. It was not uncommon for voters to have to wait more than 30 minutes to vote. Comparing the turnout for this election to the 2004 elections, this was about a third lighter than the 2004 elections, but turnout was 20-30% greater than the 2005 elections. Voters taking more time wading through the text of the ballot initiatives slowed down voting considerably. It would have helped considerably to have more voting stations open at the polls. I observed quite a few voters leaving the polls unable to cast their ballot because of the wait, and while some returned to try again later, undoubtably others did not. Local elections officials did a great job managing the polls despite the pressure, and I am unaware of any irregularities. They deserve our thanks for performing a tough job well, while under difficult conditions.
Election day did provide some humor to break up all the seriousness. Andrew Hurst signs were placed in the county portions of the 50th instead of Judy Feder signs which gave us quite a laugh. Democrats scrambled early in the morning to place the correct signs at Stonewall and Sinclair, although a few Hurst signs remained throught the day. Democrats were handing out Jeanette Rishell’s mail piece on education to voters despite the spelling error on the page, expecting that voters wouldn’t read all the way through the piece an notice it. With 30-45 minute waits in line, some probably did. Perhaps the best laugh of all was Mimi Schaeffer (aka Howling Latina) showing up at Dean looking like a freak and dancing to “I’ve never been to Spain” in front of the precinct. Perhaps that would explain why Dean provided the largest raw vote margin of victory to Jackson Miller of all the precincts in the 50th.
Congratulations to Jackson Miller and Corey Stewart for winning hard races, and to Frank Wolf for another relatively easy victory. And George Allen, we’re still pulling for you — hang in there.
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There were Andy Hurst signs in the 1st District in eastern PWC, too. (Right next to the Shawn O’Donnell signs.)