Welcome back to the Watercooler. I think everyone is thirsty for election results instead of polls and today’s the first Primary in the nation so this edition is dedicated to New Hampshire’s election day. Let the games begin!
Independents Day
Yes, today in Independents day, or as NH calls them, Undeclareds day. These people have decided not to affiliate with either Party and they make up about 44% of all registered voters. This from the NH Secretary of State who predicts a record turnout today:
Registered Voters as of February 5, 2016 | 231,376 Democratic | 262,111 Republican | 389,472 Undeclared | TOTAL 882,959
This election is truly up in the air and will probably deliver some surprises. Mix together the undeclareds, the undecideds (at least 40% for GOP voters as of yesterday) and same day registration and you’d need a extremely powerful crystal ball to predict the outcome.
Election Results (click here for updates)
But if you’re clamoring for ballot results, they’re already in from 3 counties out of 300.
Dixville Notch: Kasich 3; Trump 2 and Sanders 4; Clinton 0
Hart’s Location: Kasich 5; Trump 4; Christie 2; Bush, Carson, Rubio each got 1 and Sanders 12; Clinton 7
Millsfield: Cruz 9; Trump 3; Kasich, Bush, Fiorina, Paul, Rubio each got 1 vote and Clinton 2; Sanders 1
Grand Tally with 1% Reporting:
Cruz, Kasich, Trump 9; Christie 3; Bush 2
Sanders 17; Clinton 9
It’s All about Delegates Afterall
He who gets the most delegates wins! Actually whoever gets to 1,237 delegates first gets nominated. Here’s what’s at stake in NH. There’s a total of 23 delegates: 14 at large, 6 Congressional District (3 for each of it’s 2 districts) and 3 Unbound RNC delegates. But, a candidate must get 10% or more of the votes to get any delegates.
Setting Expectations
This is a tricky little game some candidates play to set the stage for where they think they’ll end up. We read here earlier that a Cruz supporter said he expected to outperform everyone’s expectations. Trump seems to be downplaying expectations as if he doesn’t want to jinx his chances given his longtime lead in the polls. Rubio not only raised expectations, but last night he seemed to predict a victory. He did get a media victory even after he came in third in Iowa so he may be right if he comes in at least third or better in NH.
At a rally in Nashua this evening, Marco Rubio had this to say as he wrapped up his speech in New Hampshire: “Get up early tomorrow and vote … because we’re going to do as well as we possibly can. I believe it’s going to lead to victory not just in this primary, but I believe it’s going to lead to victory in November.”
Voter ID Law
NH implemented a new voter ID law just in time for this election. A voter must have a valid photo ID and it they don’t, they have to sign an affidavit and get their picture taken on-site, unless they file for a religious exception.
Like all good Democrats, Clinton doesn’t like voter ID laws since they erroneously say that they depress the vote and they don’t care for the rule of law in general. No surprise then that she sent out this tweet:
Clinton promoted on Twitter a page on her website called “What you need to know before the New Hampshire primary.” (and listed the accepted types of ID’s. “Don’t have any of those? That’s okay, you can still vote by signing a brief, sworn statement.”
Election Result Sources
If you need a couple extra election results sources beyond your usual, here are a couple of links. A local station in Boston here. And the official NH Secretary of State website here.
As always, here at the Watercooler, it’s open to everyone to comment on the stories above or opine about something that’s on your mind without worrying about the threadjack rules. Just because I focused on the NH election, doesn’t mean you have to do the same…but I know you will. We’ll keep the watercooler full as people will be thirsty for more results when the polls close in less than six more hours, so drop in often!
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