Early Council Results

Here are the top nine after the early votes:

Qualls
Thomas
Winburn
Young
Sittenfeld
Simpson
Quinlivan
Smitherman
Seelbach

Polling Location Details Not Updated On BOE Website

I had a minor problem at my polling station this morning.  This year after the precinct locations were revamped, I double checked to make sure that my location did not change.  It didn't.  It is still at the Emanuel Community Center at 1308 Race Street.

So Knowing where I going, I walked in the same entrance I've gone to since I moved to OTR in 2007.  I went down the ramp in front of the building, went around to the back door and found that it was locked.

I was perplexed.  I was pondering what was going on.  Why would the doors to a polling place locked at about 10 AM.  There must be some kind of mistake, so I went in the front door and asked and found that a different room was being used in the building and was pointed quickly to the room not far from the main door and voted without a problem.

No big deal.  Things change and I just didn't pay enough attention.

After I got back to blogging and was researching another report of problems at my precinct, where it reportedly was not opened for voting until 7:15 AM, I checked the polling location search on the BOE's website (www.votehamiltoncounty.org) and I found a problem.  They still list the building entrance as "FRONT RAMP ENTRANCE" as can be seen below:

I hope that no one gave up when trying to find the entrance.  I would have hopped that the BOE would have the website more updated, unless this was a last minute change, which has other implications.  I also hope that building has a third entrance that is wheel chair accessible, because the main entrance did not appear to be.

Where Are the Election Night Parties?

Election night can be a fun and exciting event for many candidates and Issue supporters.  It can also be a depressing night for some as well.  Here are the locations for the candidates/groups that I am aware of so far.  I'll update the list as I learn more:

No on Issue 48: Arnold's
Chris Seelbach: Milton's
Jason Riverio: Mixx Ultra Lounge
Yvette Simpson: Mixx Ultra Lounge
Wendell Young: Mixx Ultra Lounge
SB5-No on Issue 2: Holy Grail
P.G. Sittenfeld: The Cincinnati Fire Museum
Republicans: City Cellars

Berding's Sour Grapes and Partisan Flip

So, I guess Jeff Berding's anger over getting the boot from the Hamilton County Democratic Party appears to be strongly lingering over two years later with his classless robo-calls against Democratic Council Member Cecil Thomas.  Berding has become the darling of the Republicans with his support of Issue 2 (SB5).  I'd be happy if he came out and declared himself a Republican and drop any pretense.  His appointment of Wayne Lippert was the clearest sign he had left the party that had left him. Going to the other side by playing attack dog is the real sign that you are now on the dark side.

Darth Berding isn't going to sway anyone, even if the Bengals defy all predictions and make the playoffs.

COAST Misleading Voters on Issue 2

It is no surprise that COAST will knowingly mislead voters on any issue or candidate they support. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post reports on the sleaze COAST is pushing on Issue 2, so it what he reports is not a shock, just a succinct example of the way COAST operates.  Here's a recording of the message on a phone line on the flyer Sargent reported is being circulated in Ohio:

There are outright lies on that recording, namely the claim that voting No on issue will cause layoff of public workers. The recording states that the phone line is funded by COAST and sounds like a robo-call.  I wonder if it is being sent out as such.  If it is, I hope the anti-Issue 2 folks take a cue from the No on 48 team.

Council Election Predictions!

There are many ways to make council predictions.  You can crunch the numbers.  You can throw darts or pull names from a hat.  I've run the numbers, but running the numbers assumes I know who is going to vote.  I can only guess at that.  Those guesses include the historical facts that elected incumbents rarely lose council races here in Cincinnati. Un-elected incumbents have lost, but tend to win as well.  So, if you run the numbers, you tend to point to the likelihood that we will not see much change on council.

I'm not going to predict zero change, but conventional wisdom indicates that there are only three possible seats in play.  Who might loose depends on who votes, so the only prediction I can make is the following:

I predict we will have one new member on council once the votes are totaled tomorrow night.  (I'm not going to name names, because I don't like being wrong.)

If there is more than one new member, I will be surprised.  The only way I can see that happening is a drop in Conservative votes or a big influx of more Moderate and Liberal votes.  That's the rub: Turnout.  It is almost always the only definitive indicator that can be factored into predictions.

What are your predictions?  Sound off in comments.

The Classism of the Ohio GOP

The State of Ohio's Republicans are chopped full of examples of unflappable mendacity, but sometimes the truth of their motivations are plain as day.  Greg Sargent of the Washington Post writes a blog post on the (in my words) classism of Lou Blessing, Ohio House Representative from the 29th District located in the Suburbs of Cincinnati.

Blessing is quoted on Ohio Public Radio as stating that he's against cutting the pay of Republican lawmakers, as an act of shared sacrifice with Ohio union workers who stand to loose jobs, benefits, and pay as the result of SB5.  Cutting state law makers pay is not going to amount to that much money and won't solve any problems.  It is just the way he said it.  His pure arrogance and callousness dripped like acid from his lips as he dismissed the idea, claiming he and other Republicans "earn" their money, implying the unions and the Dems don't.

That's classism in my book.  It sounds like he's channeling a 19th Century Industrialist complaining about his workers asking for basic safe-working conditions.  The type of thing that would cost him a few dollars, but he doesn't want to part with a single dime, unless it goes to those loyal to his company, or in the case of Blessing to those supporting his political philosophy/constituency.