Post Mortem on Live Blogging the Results

So the precinct results did not come into the Democratic Party's primary night party like they did last election. I will try to find and fill out the results tomorrow. When 5-17 a precinct Ken Ulman won in 2002 came in strong for Sigaty (and they were the only full precinct returns for that district that came into the party all night) I had a pretty strong feeling she would win and she did. The slate won in District 13. More tomorrow. Sorry this live blogging didn't work out as well as I had hoped.

Sadly the Board of Elections didn't fare any better (and you could say even worse). Here is a screen shot of what their website was posting on their "Results Page" well after midnight:


So the search for a good way to get quick local primary results continues...

WJZ and WBAL have some state and local results, but not county council, school board or central committee. As of right now the number of precincts reporting in some of these races still leaves the results very much in doubt. Voting machine problems in Montgomery County and Baltimore City have created a tremendous mess. I think it will take some time to sort out the real winners. In the meantime, let us put returning to marking our votes on durable (cardboardish heavy bond) paper like the machines we use to use so successfully in Howard County. The firing of Linda Lamone and the return to paper ballots should be the first order of business of the state legislature when their next session starts.

P.S. Add to the lessons learned from live blogging: HayDuke is a lot faster typer than me. While I spent two hours formating precinct maps on my blog and trying to find any results to report, HayDuke was giving a great running update of the fog of election night, including some great pictures.