Midterm Elections: The Latest

The fight for the Arizona Senate seat abandoned by Jeff Flake continued until late yesterday, when Republican Martha McSally conceded the race to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, giving the Democrats another senate seat and Arizonans some Democratic representation in the Senate! Sinema is also the state's first female senator! WOOT!

Lauren Gambino at the Guardian reports:

At 7.41ET on Monday, six days after the polls closed and as votes were still being counted, the Associated Press declared that Sinema had beaten the U.S. congresswoman Martha McSally... The last time a Democrat was elected to an open senate seat in this conservative western state was 1976, the year Sinema was born.

"Arizonans had a choice between two very different ways forward: one focused on fear and party politics and one focused on Arizona and the issues that matter to everyday families," Sinema said in her victory speech in Scottsdale. "I am so honored that Arizonans chose our vision."

Meanwhile, in California: "Democrats have won two Republican-held California state Senate seats in the Central Valley, giving the party veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature. Vote totals updated since Election Day made winners Monday of Melissa Hurtado and Assemblywoman Anna Caballero." Right on!

In Florida, things continue to drag on endlessly, because Florida elections are a disgrace. Douglas Hanks, Martin Vassolo, and Alex Harris at the Miami Herald: Miami-Dade Is Halfway Through Its Recount; Broward Hasn't Started Yet.

The stark contrast in pace from Florida's two largest sources of ballots highlights the pressure facing Broward as it tries to meet a Thursday afternoon deadline to recount the more than 700,000 votes cast in the largely Democratic county.

As of noon Monday, Broward still had to calibrate its ballot-scanning machines and sort out the ballots needed to be counted, suggesting the actual recount may not start until later in the day or even Tuesday morning.

...When the recount order came from Tallahassee Saturday afternoon, Miami-Dade was able to start recounting within hours. Its nine high-speed ballot counting machines began processing ballots shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday, and have been running 24 hours since. Broward was still testing its machines and sorting out ballot pages through the weekend and Monday morning.

...If Broward were to start its recount at 5 p.m. Monday, it would need to count about 10,200 ballots per hour to meet the 3 p.m. Thursday deadline for counties to turn in their recount results. If the deadline is missed, the original results reported Saturday are what's counted.

Because fates forfend we just give Broward as much time as they need to complete the recount and ensure that the results are accurate!

And in a nightmare repeat of 2000, Dana Chisnell and Whitney Quesenbery at the Washington Post report that "a badly designed ballot might have swayed the election in Florida." Swell.

In Georgia, Stacey Abrams keeps fighting, because she is awesome. Tanya A. Christian at Essence reports:

Just a day after Brian Kemp called Stacey Abrams' attempt to count "all the votes" a "disgrace to democracy," the Abrams campaign filed a federal lawsuit on Sunday to delay vote certifications.

A successful lawsuit would mean that officials would have until Wednesday to tally vote totals, and could restore over 1,000 absentee ballots that were formerly rejected. Abrams believes that these could help to close the gap between her and her opponent.

According to CNN, Abrams' campaign manager, Lauren Groh-Wargo, spoke to reporters via a conference call on Sunday and said, "The race is not over." Adding "It's still too close to call. And we cannot have confidence in the secretary of state's numbers."

No, we cannot. And I am so glad that Abrams is fighting it to the bitter end. That is the very opposite of a "disgrace to democracy." The disgrace to democracy in Georgia is Brian Kemp.

On a final note, I'm hearing an awful lot of "Beto 2020!" stuff, and the longer Abrams fights, the more I wonder why it isn't "Abrams 2020!" that's dominating my social media. Because it damn well should be.