Count my vote, dammit!

Okay, so most of the vote tallies are in, in my state of Iowa. Well, except for the local US House race in Iowa District 2. That includes left-leaning Johnson County where I live. The incumbent is Jim Leach (R) who has held the post for 30 years against newcomer and political science professor Dave Loebsack (D).

KCRG is reporting right now that 99% of the vote is counted, and it’s neck and neck at 50% each. Dave Loebsack is slightly ahead with 96,661 votes, and Republican incumbent Jim Leach trails with 96,049.

What’s holding up the final tally? The Johnson County auditor is having trouble processing the absentee ballots. They ended up having to do a recount of all the absentee ballots in Johnson County because of process and procedural errors — that includes my absentee ballot vote which I mailed on Friday. In Johnson County, 40% of the people voted early with absentee ballots. My thought is that a lot of Dems voted that way, and the House seat is definitely going to go to Loebsack.

That’s my prediction (“Loebsack wins!”) at 12:22 a.m., and I’m sticking to it. The auditor has said the recount should be done by 1 a.m. The race is not over yet!