Maryland 2012 Election Results LIVE: Question 6 Gay Marriage Issue to Be Decided
While many see Maryland as an uninteresting "blue state," Maryland is a critical battleground this year. Perhaps not for the presidential race: every analysis out there puts the state firmly in Obama's safe zone, but for the referendums being put to the people there.
Maryland's DREAM Act, allowing undocumented immigrant minors who meet certain stipulations recieve in-state tuition for college, is being put to the vote as "Question 4." Meanwhile, gay marriage is being put on the ballot in Question 6, tabletop gambling in question 7, and Gerrymandering in Question 5.
To add on to that, there are always local and state-level elections to keep an eye on, the post-2010 census new district map could yield some interesting Congressional races.
If you want to keep up with the Maryland perspective, keep checking back here! And if you feel like learning more about the electoral college, and find out why I don't like it, check out my other blog here.
PolicyMic will be providing LIVE updates over the course of election day. Bookmark and refresh this page for the latest updates.
See our full election live coverage here.
UPDATES:
6:15PM: Ok, I am home and getting ready to blog this thing. Getting my command center set up: CNN on one TV, Comedy Central on another. An MSNBC tab, a FOX tab, a Washington Post compilation site open. On another screen, Halo 4 (which I am forcing myself to ignore). I'll be updating with some Maryland poll numbers around 6:45pm.
6:52 PM:
Baltimore Sun polls give Obama an advantage, as predicted, with a 55% to 36% lead over Romney. Question 6 is also ahead, 49% vs. 39%. Also according to the Sun, Cardin has a lead 50% to 24% and 14% versus Bongino and Sobhani, respectively, making him one of the safest senators in the country.
Good for him. I'll be bringing more results as they come.
6:59 PM:
VIRGINIA IS A 49% 49% TIE SO FAR
7:15 PM:
Only 1% of the vote in Virginia and 4% of the vote is in in Florida. So far, Obama is ahead in both, but WAAAY too early too tell for that.
7:20 PM:
Ok, now, with 5% in in Florida, it is a tie. 10 minutes until Ohio closes. I am on my way to an election watch at the University of Maryland, so I will get some viewpoints from there.
7:50 PM:
Sorry everyone, I am back. At the UMD Election Watch. It has a big board and everything.
8:03 PM:
It is official. MARYLAND GOES TO OBAMA. The UMD Election Watch just broke out in applause and cheers, because it was just such a huge shocker. He also took a wave of other states, but I'll get back to that in a minute.
8:10 PM:
The winners for Obama: Ilinois, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachussets, New Hampshire, and Maine.
The winners for Romney: Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virgina.
There are no real surprises or major swing states here, but so far Romney leads on electoral and popular votes. In short, nothing important for the national elections has happened yet. I am keeping a close eye for when state results report.
Edit: There are some projected winners mixed in there with the finalized ones.
8:28 PM:
Finally! Some Maryland results are reported in. So far, with 2% of the votes counted, Obama, Cardin, and Question 6 are all in the lead! Question 6 is at 59% for, 41% against at the moment, but that is changing second-to-second. I will report again soon.
8:48 PM:
With the majority of Florida and 22% of Ohio in, Obama has the lead in both, with a significant lead in Ohio of like 10 points. It is still too early to call, but it looks like Obama has an edge here despite the overall so-far numbers giving Romney more points.
In Maryland, a few Republican counties are reporting in, putting Question 6 at a reduced lead of 58% vs 42%. Still, it looks like Maryland will be the first state to reaffirm gay marriage via popular vote!
8:59 PM:
With 62% reporting in, Florida is 50%/49% Obama. This thing ridiculously close.
In Maryland news, Question 6 is creeping even closer: 57% vs 43%. All the Maryland Congressional districts seem to be going blue right now, except District 1 (Andy freaking Harris, my hometown representative). Cardin is winning too, but seriously, was any other result possible?
9:13 PM:
Florida is within 1,200 votes! What the heck? Out of several hundred thousand!
9:29 edit: 636 votes out of over 7 million seperate the two in Florida!
9:24 PM:
Question 6 is still narrowing, 55% vs. 45% in favor, but very few votes are still in. I am nervous, but optimistic. I am still looking for anything that will show me live results on Questions 4, 5, and 7, but no luck so far.
9:45 PM
Maryland update everyone (I know, it isn't changing that quickly). The Congressional race are unchanged, all Democratic except Andy Harris, with Cardin winning in the Senate by a huge margin. The gay marriage question is still narrowing (it's a nail-biter) with a 52% vs 48% lead for Question 6. Bartlett in MD-06 has gotten up to 36%, but it doesn't seem to be enough.
In other news, Pennsylvania has gone to Obama (according to CNN), as well as a greater lead in Florida.
10:00 PM:
The standings for the state Questions so far:
Question 4 (the DREAM Act): For, 59.3% vs 40.7%
Thoughts?
10:19 PM:
In the last 20 minutes, the lead for Question 4 narrowed a tiny bit. Question 5 hasn't changed, 6 is 50.65% vs 49.35% (I know that's what you're all looking for), and 7 is slightly edging more toward the for side, with 51.3% vs 48.7%.
No notable legislative election changes.
10:35 PM:
Questions 6 and 7 are both holding extremely narrow leads, with 1.3 million votes in so far (still see above GIF). Things seem to be stabalizing a little bit now, but it is still too early to call one way or another...
10:50 PM:
I am calling it for Questions 4 and 5. The DREAM Act, with 57.3% of the vote and over 1.5 million votes in, is going to pass. The Congressional districting plan is going to be reaffirmed, no doubt, but the 36.6% against in a heavily Democratic state is a bit of a statement on significant opposition to Democratic Gerrymandering.
Questions 6 and 7, on the other hand, are still too close to call. It is still roughly 51/49% for on both, with about 35% of votes in.
11:10 PM:
Everything is holding steady on Questions 6 and 7. Question 6 is at 51.2%, and Question 7 is at 51.6%, with just over 1.6 million votes in on each. Ben Cardin is still holding a solid victory with twice the votes of his nearest competitor, and (despite a small comeback for Roscoe Bartlett, getting back up to 40% of the vote) nothing has changed in the House races. Only Andy Harris in the 1st district is winning for the Republicans.
11:28 PM:
Question 6 is getting even closer, with 1.7 million votes (67% of the total) in. 50.9% in favor, 49.1% against. Question 7 has remained at about 51.7% in favor.
In other news, it appears as if Mr. Obama is going to win a second term. I will keep updating on the questions, but it is impossible for any of the Congressional races to shift at this point. District 1 went to Andy Harris, the rest (districts 2-7, including Roscoe Bartlett's District 6) are all going to be Democratic.
11:45 PM
No changes so far, with almost 1.8 million votes in on Question 6. My prediction is that neither will change. I am predicting a narrow victory for both Questions. So, pardon my bias, but...
12:01 AM:
As of the morning of the 7th of November, Question 6 is in the lead with 51.3% of the vote. Question 7 is also in the lead with 51.7% of the vote. 82% of the vote came in for 6 so far.
Obama is president again, and the House and Senate remain in the same hands as where they started.
12:20 AM:
At after 12:15 AM, I am going to finish this up. With almost 90% of the votes counted in Maryland, here are the results on the key Questions:
The DREAM Act: 57.3% for Congressional redistricting: 63.1% for Same-sex marriage: 51.2% for Gaming expansion: 51.7% for
If you want to understand why an election with almost dead even popular votes is being called a landslide for Obama, check out my other PolicyMic article on the Electoral College.
Finally, to Mr. Obama: