Can someone explain to me why in hell all the votes from Alaska are not counted yet?

[ThomWV]

What do they have to do, bring the fucking ballots across the icecap via dog-sled to count them? Same thing for Georgia and Minnesota, why in hell aren't they counting votes 24/7 until the results are known? I think it is patently absurd that we are over a week after the vote and ballots are not yet counted and in fact in some cases they don't seem to be in any sort of hurry to even get started counting them. It is particularly onerous in that votes that have not been counted yet are still available for mischief.

[randr]

1. Well, also and you know therefore.

[aquart]

2. They have to come by dogsled?

[Mz Pip]

3. I'm sure they would have been

more than happy to just call it for the Republican but too many people are paying attention so they have to count all of them, even if it means counting all the absentee ballots that have been gathering dust in a closet somewhere.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. Yes, and that, too.

I feel it in my bones that a lot of these late ballots were brought forward when it became clear that people were watching, particularly given the fact that we KNOW that in 2004 the tabulator was tampered with post-election.

I'd rather have them take their time and get it right than just give it to Stevens because we always have in the past. Alaskans deserve no less.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. This is a very large state,

1/5 the size of the rest of the country, and a lot of the state's residents are not on the road system. Even for the villages that have airstrips, sometimes only one or two flights a week go in and out, particularly this time of year when weather can be an issue.

Some years our elections haven't been determined until December.

[ThomWV]

16. Well - have there been storms?

OK maybe its the weather - have there been storms? If its a matter of transportaton, well if one or two flights go out a week - its been over a week. So why aren't they counted? And as for large size, that's nonsense. Charlotte, NC has about the same number of voters and they managed to get there votes counted overnight.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. It's not numbers, it's SIZE

and the difficulty of transportation. This time of year there are ALWAYS storms.

And, like I said, I'd rather have them take their time and do it right than rush it through and do it wrong. We've had so many issues up here with our elections in the past that people are really paying attention this year. I feel somewhat comforted knowing that there are "watchers."

We never really mattered before so no one ever noticed, but this year with Sarah on the ticket and Ted being a felon, people being more scrupulous and attentive than before. I honestly believe they were going to try to steal this one, too, until they realized that there was going to be methodical checking.

[ladywnch]

19. only 1/5? I thought it was close to half. I know most maps distort

the size (as well as many other countries) to fit.

[Blue_In_AK]

25. Here's how Alaska looks superimposed on a map of the Lower 48

It's pretty big, and very diverse, both in landscape and in people.

[vademocrat]

27. Wow! I've never realized just how big Alaska is -

Thank you for posting this!

[Blue_In_AK]

28. Do you see that little peninsula there kind of in the middle?

Anchorage is at the top of that. We have one highway out of Anchorage that splits about 90 miles south of here and goes to Seward on one branch and Homer on the other, and one that runs north, which branches about 30 miles north of here -- one branch going to Glennallen by way of Palmer (the Glenn Highway) and one to Fairbanks by way of Wasilla (the Parks Highway). At Glennallen you can pick up the Richardson Highway which runs between Fairbanks and Valdez, or you can go east on the Alaska Highway which will take you into Canada. The Haul Road runs from Fairbanks up to Prudhoe Bay and is mostly used by truckers. That's about it as far as roads go here. We can't even get to our capital down there on the right except by plane or ferry.

The rest of the state is dotted with hundreds of small Native villages, with some larger regional centers (mostly with fewer than 5,000 residents). There are no roads out there connecting the villages. People travel a lot by snowmachine in the winter or on the rivers in the summer. It's really quite different than any other state, and presents unique challenges.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

5. Because They Take Their Time To Do It Right And Because There's No Rush.

Might be a rush to you due to your obsession with politics, but it's not like these people will be sitting in the Senate tomorrow and this process is delaying our agenda. There is time for these counts to take place and there is no downside or impact to it not being done on a 24/7 schedule.

We want the results asap, but in the scheme of things whether they know today or a month from now is largely irrelevant.

[sandnsea]

All states are still counting

I think. It's just that they aren't close enough where the outstanding votes can change the election. They have to count, do provisionals, absentees, etc. Then they have the accounting they do afterwards, reconciliation, to make sure every ballot has been accounted for. It always takes time. We just don't know they're doing it because elections aren't usually this close.

[JPZenger]

6. They were in the hold of the Exxon Valdez

The ballots were in the hold of the Exxon Valdex and they had a little incident after the captain got drunk again. Exxon is now using endangered species of birds with extra-absorbant feathers to wipe the oil off the ballots.

[dkofos]

7. Must be having a hard time finding people that can count to 10.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I don't mind a little joking,

but that's really insulting, especially coming from a Texan. Please....

[dkofos]

23. Well it was a joke. But if you would like I can really be insulting.

And by the way, I'm not a native Texan. I'm just stuck here.

[Blue_In_AK]

24. Okay, you're forgiven.

We're just a little touchy up here this year. You have to admit, an awful lot of "jokes" have been directed at Alaskans, as if ALL of us are wackos like Sarah or corrupt like Ted. I've lived here for 33 years, and I know that's not the case. I just feel compelled to defend the sane and ethical ones among us.

[rvablue]

9. I agree and every election cycle this seems to happen

one week or a week and a half or two weeks out they claim they are still counting ballots in some state or another.

I think the poster who wrote that because now that the national media is paying attention they actually have to count each and every vote is interesting.

And think in the case of AK, it was the media reports analyzing the extreme low voter turnout even though the excitement over both Obama and their own guv Palin would defy those numbers.

Whoever hid ballots probably got scared they would get indicted or something and hence why there's all those new votes to be counted.

Sorry to go....just agree with you...makes you want to pull your hair out and you just wish someone in the MSM would say it outloud.

[amdezurik]

11. tell you what

go down to the local Kinko's or whatever and order 10,000 copies of the same page in a book, then sit down and try to count the first letter in each paragrah on each page. When you are done, then come back and ask :)

[Trajan]

12. Icy hands ?

[snappyturtle]

13. As I understand it in MN case it that the senatorial election re-count

is mandated by law and the re-count starts on Nov. 18th. So they can't finish what hasn't started yet. imho

[ashling]

14. They have to call in more workers

they ran out of fingers.
:rofl:

[Pab Sungenis]

15. Honestly, this is an example of how screwed up our system is.

Canada, a much larger nation (at least in area) than the U.S., and larger in every measure than Alaska, has it right.

Hand count and report at precincts, which forward counts to the central locations through this miraculous little piece of modern technology called the "telephone." Results are known in hours, not days. If there are any questions, the actual ballots can be transported to a central location for recounting.

[Blue_In_AK]

18. You're right.

We only have one central tabulator, which is here in Anchorage. This also increases the possibility of tampering because there's only one tabulator to mess with.

[IsItJustMe]

30. Nah, that is to simple and intelligent. We don't take to kindly to that in the good old US of A.

[chelsea0011]

20. Have you ever tried to count past a hundred?

[pampango]

21. Counting paper ballots is slower (and more accurate) than touch-screen voting. n/t

[OregonBlue]

22. They are actually taking all the votes that were postmarked on election day. That's great.

Most states ignore those that weren't received on election day so I have to give them credit for that. Also, it is a big state, there are remote communities and several other states are still counting too. It's just that it isn't close to it doesn't get national attention. I'd rather have it done right than done quickly.

[janethussein]

26. Alaska with that huge population of -

approx. 660,000 (for the entire damn State) - same as my little city of Austin,Texas.

yup, yup - bunch of illiterate, ignorant, dumb asses. A high school diploma in Alaska is the same as a PhD in any other State. Education is neither required nor encouraged in Alaska.

One, two, three, four, five, six, oh wait a minute, what comes after six ? haha

[Blue_In_AK]

29. I'm sorry, but I just have to say

BULLSHIT! YOU don't know what you're talking about.