"... about 453,000 residents had cast votes,..." ( with 12 % left to count)

So.. why do all the vote totals reported so far, total 506,187? Where are the "extra" votes coming from??

????:eyes:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jj5iNqh5rolHXnTDn9_gGm4o5-8wD8U25IPG0


Voter Turnout in NH Sets Record

By STEPHEN FROTHINGHAM – 1 hour ago



CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Voters excited about competitive races in both parties set a record for turnout in New Hampshire's primary Tuesday. With ballots from 12 percent of voting precincts still to be counted, about 453,000 residents had cast votes, breaking the previous primary turnout record of 396,385 ballots cast in 2000.

State officials predicted that when all ballots were counted, the total would surpass 500,000. "Turnout is high, very high," Secretary of State William Gardner said earlier Tuesday as the polls were closing.

snip....

Voting officials in several towns briefly ran out of ballots and substituted unused absentee ballots or photocopied ballots. "We're overwhelmed. We had to use extra paper ballots that we hadn't anticipated," said Salem moderator Charles Morse.

In Waterville Valley, town clerk Pat Kucharski said voter turnout was "exceptionally heavy," particularly for the Democratic primary.

snip....

in anticipation of a heavy turn out? :shrug:

Something doesn't seem right!

:)

Only in the world of GW, does 2+2=7

might not make that clear if it's the case.

:P

all sorts of little mistakes or omissions are made.

And I still think it's it's absentee ballots, but whatever it is, it'll end up as nothing terribly mysterious. Could even be that the actual turnout won't be known until all precincts report.

I know that 4% of the precincts is probably not many votes, but why are they so slow?

some slowpoke.

Could be problems tallying and they'll be there till 4 AM trying to get a good count. Around here Mechanical problems or someone spilling coffee on the small pile of paper ballots means long talks with the county and maybe waiting for an entourage to come from "the office." Also rare, but a voter just might be contesting eligibility and waiting for a judge to decide whether or or to let him or her vote, keeping the poll open late. You can't count the votes until everyone's voted.

Here in NY we're still using the lever machines, and if turnout is light we can call in the count in half an hour. So, county gets the tally by 9:30-9:45 and then after it fools around with it a bit, reports it.
But, I've been there when turnout is heavy and some small thing goes wrong so we're not out till midnight.

power went out, somebody had a heart attack, a bear broke in and shit on the ballots...

Things happen, and the last 4% of the votes are just not that important for now.

(Unless you want to get to your bookie before he goes to sleep.)

....(i do?)

Those precincts' votes won't be known until they are actually counted.. large precincts could contain many votes..:shrug:

they will eventually be counted.

My question is-- why the rush to know? What's so important about being absolutely, positively sure about the totals "right now"?

The candidates don't seem to be in all that much of a rush, so why us?

what IS taking so long?

453,000 votes cast had been counted, but there were still 12% left to count? In that case, the total votes cast would be estimated at about 515,000, which would put it in the ballpark.

And did Diebold do any counting yesterday?