Republicans Score Two Special Election Wins for U.S. House
Two special elections were held yesterday to fill the Congressional seats in Ohio’s 5th Congressional District and Virginia’s 1st CD, and happily, the Republicans won in each case.
Ohio 5
On September 5th, 2007, GOP Representative Paul Gillmor, 68, was found dead in his Arlington home in an apparent accidental trip-and-fall down the stairs. In the special election to replace him, State Representative Bob Latta scored a 57%-43% win for the Republican over Robin Weirauch, the Democrat. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had been crowing about an impending upset in the past few days, but alas it was not so. In a district where President Bush won 61% of the vote, now Congressman Latta received 57% in a low turnout special election.
Virginia 1
Republican Rep. Jo Ann Davis died on October 6, 2007, losing a tough fight with breast cancer. GOPer Robert J. Wittman handily defeated Philip Forgit by a margin of 60.72% to 37.3%. A solid Republican district, Mr. Wittman held a commanding fundraising advantage over his opponent and never looked back.
A Footnote
In both of these cases, Ohio and Virginia - each of them double the size of Connecticut - I am able to access election results quite literally hours after the polls closed from the Wood County Board of Elections in Ohio and the Virginia State Board of Elections. In both cases, you can even get a breakdown by county - effectively equivalent to our towns. Posting this same information, in a far less accessible and user friendly format would not be available from the Secretary of the State’s website for days after an election, to say nothing of a special election. Were it that we had a more innovative Secretary of the State, what useful tools might we have? But alas it is not so.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:37 PM
Unfortunately, the current system in Connecticut is not a byproduct of Susan B’s administration, but rather of 169 towns with strong local control over their election procedures.
Heath, I know that you’ve spent some time collecting election data, so you’re certainly aware of the vast range of formats and quality that make up the official records for any election, be it local, state, or federal.
I agree that the VA site is impressive, but the question of course is if you’re willing to put more of the process in the hands of the SOTS to get the convenience of centralized reporting. I’d like it if I could get whatever documents I want from one office in Hartford, but I also have to admit that most people (non-operatives) trust the system more because they elect their own Registrars of competing parties to oversee the process in their own town.
Republicans usually claim to support local government — is this is a case where you think we should give it up for the benefits central government would provide?
December 14th, 2007 at 8:29 PM
I don’t need a “one stop shop” for all manner of elections data or statewide standardized data formats mandated by Hartford. The SOTS hasn’t shown an ability to standardize the data they already have; no sense in asking them to require it statewide.
My plea is for a SOTS office that can tell me what is going during an election - like election results on election night - and for one that could organize the data they already are required to collect in a sensible fashion.
Instead, all we get is a “campaign size” photo of SotS Bysiewicz on the website.