Begich lead over Stevens grows

Here's the latest from the ADN.

"Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich's lead over Sen. Ted Stevens is growing in today's ballot count in the race for U.S. Senate. The latest numbers, issued just before 1 p.m., show Begich up by 2,374 votes.

The Division of Elections expects to release more numbers between 4 and 5 p.m."

Begich leads by three votes (UPDATE: Make that 814 votes)

That's right, folks ... three votes.

That's with just over half of the absentee/early ballots counted today. The Divisions of Elections is saying they'll have the rest counted in the next week. By law, the have to be done by Nov. 19. After that, a recount is about certain.

Trivia question: what happens if it's a tie? (Hint: this actually happened in a legislative race in 2006)

UPDATE: Begich's lead is now up to 814 votes. Thanks to Liz Villareal for paying attention.

Will early voters decide important AK races?

Tomorrow is the day the state Division of Elections will count the majority of early and absentee votes. It's astonishing that so many Alaskans (more than 90,000) voted early or absentee this year. Homer shattered the record for early voting, as did most other communities statewide.  

The big question on most Alaskans' minds tomorrow will be whether or not Mark Begich ends up with a lead over Stevens when the counting is done. With a relatively slim lead of 3,353 votes, the Stevens camp is likely nervous right about now. Although it remains to be seen whether they will outperform the Republicans in turning out early voters, one thing is for sure - the state Democratic Party put on the full court press this year attempting to get their people to vote early. I am not, and have never been, a registered Democrat but I got at least a dozen snazzy, full-color (and expensive) mailers from the ADP throughout the campaign season, imploring me to vote early. We'll see if the effort payed off.  

One question floating around the newsroom today was this: is it even remotely possible for Ethan Berkowitz, who is down by a seemingly insurmountable 8-point margin to Don Young, to make up the difference with early/absentee votes?

Shannyn Moore has a good post on the subject here, describing the scene today of various campaign operatives fretting over the vote-counting. 

"It feels like 2000 Bush-Gore around here," she says.

More tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a link to the division's official count.

Homer News election roundup, 11/6

In this week's Homer News ...

Obama takes nation; McCain wins Homer

Homer joined the nation Tuesday in becoming part of one of the most exciting election campaigns in American history an election still being pondered as Alaskans weighed the significance of the first African-American president-elect, Sen. Barack Obama, and the elevation of Gov. Sarah Palin to the national scene … (read more)

Seaton wins fourth term

Homer Republican Rep. Paul Seaton was re-elected to a fourth term Tuesday, besting Democratic challenger and political newcomer Philip Alderfer by a wide margin. Of 5,269 votes cast in the race for House District 35, Seaton received 3,656 votes, or 69.4 percent, to Alderfer's 1,601. Those numbers do not include votes cast by absentee ballots, which will be counted by Nov. 14 … (read more)

Homer votes early in record numbers

Following a growing statewide and national trend, hundreds of Homer residents voted early in the 2008 general election. According to the Homer city clerk's office, 1,237 people, or roughly 9 percent of the District 35 electorate, cast their votes early at Homer City Hall, where absentee-in-person voting began Oct. 20 … (read more)

Peninsula re-elects incumbents

Incumbent Republican Sen. Tom Wagoner finished election night with a very healthy lead in the race in Alaska Senate District Q, but there are so many absentee ballots yet to be counted that numerically, at least, it is still possible for him to lose to his Democratic Party opponent Nels Anderson … (read more)

Here we go ...

This day has been coming for a long time and it feels as historic as it's been billed.

I'm going to be putting in a long, long day today, covering the Alderfer-Seaton race, local Democrats at their Ocean Drive HQ and the reaction at Alice's Champagne Palace later tonight. I won't be able to blog until tomorrow, probably, but I wanted to at least post a link to the City of Homer's election page, in case some of you need some last-minute election information.

Now get out there and vote.