Election Day Thread

Voted at 8:45 am here in Strasburg, and was #68. From what I understand, turnout is higher than expected in my little town. I voted for Mark Obenshain for State Senate, Todd Gilbert for House of Delegates, Conrad Helsley for Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors, and Denise Barb for Shenandoah County Clerk of Court.

My "Personal Moment With The Opposition"...so far: Barb's opponent, Tammy Heishman, had a supporter passing out flyers stating "It's Time For Change, Vote Heishman", with no other information about Heishman on the flyer. I looked at this supporter, and I asked her "why do we need change in the Clerk of Court's office? I haven't heard any complaints from anyone I know." This drew a silent, frustrated stare from the Heishman supporter. I get the feeling that Heishman is running just to attain the position, because there hasn't been any real sense of reason for her campaign.

Anyway, from across the state...

Turnout is pretty high in the 27th District, some say this is bad for Vogel...but given that Vogel has actually been energizing GOP support, I'd say that this means nothing for her.

Virginia Virtucon, Not Larry Sabato, blueweeds, and Mason Conservative are all running open threads on the election, as well. I'm sure we'll all be reporting information back and forth on each other.

UPDATES

1:39 PM - Found an interesting article in the News-Virginian that warns that if Dems win control of the General Assembly, it will mostly be Northern Virginia Democrats that will pretty much run the state, as they will chair most committees. I also see that Spank That Donkey carried the same article.

2:19 PM - Development in the 34th Senate District race. Not Larry Sabato reports an incident between Tom Davis (Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis's husband and U.S. Congressman) and Mary Petersen (Chap Petersen's mother). NLS's version of this story has a definite "pro-Chap" slant, which is expected since NLS is so close to Chap. I still haven't received an answer there as to why Mary Petersen went to the polling place where Tom Davis was handing out anti-Chap literature (which is legal, I may add), and confronted him? Tom Davis's response was really ignorant, but Mary Petersen was obviously trying to start something...why else would she go there and confront Tom?

4:35 PM - Some reports from around the state regarding Senate , take it for what it's worth...Stuart looking really good against Pollard in the 28th Senate race. Cuccinelli looking good for re-election. Cadin/Caputo was looking very good in favor of Caputo at first, but exit polling and reports state that this race is slowly tightening. In the 27th, Vogel is looking good in areas thought to go to Schultz...including a spread as large as 60-40 in Vogel's favor in Frederick County, which was thought to be where Schultz would get a good bulk of her votes. In the 34th, there has been reports of higher-than-expected turnout for Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis, which goes against the predicted high turnout wave of support for Chap Petersen.

5:30 PM - Stories flying. I've heard this nasty rumor that either Bob FitzSimmonds and/or Faisal Gill got into a fight with a poll worker somewhere in Prince William County. Sources have told me this is untrue, and was undoubtedly started by a nervous Dem. Remember, FitzSimmonds and Gill are both in close, tough fights with their Dem opponents, and have been part of key races this year.

6:01 PM - Ben at NLS projects Chap Petersen to win with 1 hour and 15 minutes before the polls even close...favortism? I mean, I do think Chap wins by a slim margin, but this is ridiculous.