We should know if Mitch and Lindsay are out by 10 pm central or so

[TexasBushwhacker]

Texas will take another hour because El Paso is in the Mountain time zone.

Can someone explain why some states are in TWO time zones? The borders are all zig zag anyway.

[nycbos]

1. Mitch will win easily.

There are states that are solidly Democratic at a presidential level that have a history of electing Republican governors like Massachusetts and Vermont, and there are states that are solidly Republican at a national level that elect Democratic governors like Kentucky.


In terms of some states being into time zones maybe the dividing line is a point of longitude on the map and El Paso time was west of the line and other places in Texas aren't west of that point of longitude.

That might not be the reason I don't know but it's the only reason I could think of

[euphorb]

2. Time Zone lines within states are often related to local geography and business relationships.

For example, northwestern Indiana is in the central zone (unlike the rest of the state), because those communities are closely tied to Chicago. Likewise, the El Paso region is closely tied to the communities in southern New Mexico. For a similar reason, the western part of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan is in the central zone because it is closely tied to activities in northern Wisconsin.

[yonder]

3. Bingo.

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. That makes sense about the time zones n/t

[beachbumbob]

4. might longer as if they lose its going to go to the mail-in ballots and both states

can count ones that come in after Nov 3, we will clearly see if either are in BIG trouble early enough

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Texas is, in case you hadn't looked at a map lately,

a very large state.

Here's a link to an interesting article from a few years ago, pointing out how much of the U.S. is closer to Texas than Houston is to El Paso.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/whats-closer-to-texas-than-texas-is-to-itself/360433/

[TexasBushwhacker]

6. Did you notice my name?

I am from Texas. I've lived here my whole life. Yes, El Paso is closer to San Diego than it is to Houston. Yet it's cheaper to fly from Houston to San Diego than it is to fly from Houston to El Paso.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Then why are you puzzled that your giant state has two time zones?

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. I was puzzled that ANY state had 2 time zones

It was explained elsewhere better.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Yes, it was.

I have on occasion seen proposals to make the entire lower 48 all one time zone, which is truly nuts. The reality of sunrise and sunset would make it a nightmare.

I will say, this seems to be the very first time I haven't seen a lot of threads denouncing the time change twice a year.

Oh, and another time zone anomaly is that a small part of western Kansas is in the Mountain time zone, because it's so close to Colorado and so very far from the population centers of the rest of the state.

[TexasBushwhacker]

11. El Paso's time zone also aligns with part of Mexico

that is to its south. There's a lot of cross border business, much to Trump's dismay I'm sure.