MONTANA
The final vote count of regular ballots in Montana puts Linda McCulloch over the top by 4,474 votes. Provisional ballots are yet to be counted but it is unlikely that they could change the outcome of this race.

Winning in Montana would be especially sweet because it would mean ousting an incumbent, something that is exceedingly difficult (and expensive) to do. Note that we also ousted an incumbent republican Secretary of State in 2006. That was in the state of Minnesota. If not for that feat, the elected official running the recount in the Franken/Coleman race would be Republican Mary Kiffmeyer and not progressive champion Mark Ritchie. We know Mark Ritchie will make sure every vote is counted.

Linda leads in Montana!
Linda McCulloch (D)
232,070 | 49.25%

Brad Johnson (R)
227,596 | 48.30%

OREGON
The final vote count in Oregon is in. And Kate Brown pulled it off despite a last minute surge - fueled by a massive contribution from the timber industry - by Republican Rick Dancer.

Kate wins in Oregon!
Kate Brown (D)
773,514 | 51%

Brad Johnson (R)
701,245 | 46%

MISSOURI
We now have final tallies in Missouri, where Robin Carnahan picked up an impressive win.

Robin wins in Missouri!

Robin Carnahan (D)
1,743,819 | 62%

Mitch Hubbard (R)
1,003,692 | 36%

WEST VIRGINIA
As expected, Natalie Tennant also won big in West Virginia. Taking an open seat that has been held by a Republican.

Natalie wins in West Virginia!
Natalie Tennant (D)
431,887 | 65%

Charles Minimah (R)
227,784 | 35%

Results as of 3:32 pm PT: (click here for updated results).

Linda McCulloch (D)
232,066 | 49.25%

Brad Johnson (R)
227,587 | 48.30%

Linda McCulloch leads by just 2,180 votes. If she pulls off this major upset of incumbent Republican Brad Johnson there is not doubt that Secretary of State Project donors made the difference.

Current results:

Linda McCulloch (D)
223,611 | 49.02%

Brad Johnson (R)
221,431 | 48.54%

Robin wins in Missouri!
Robin Carnahan (D): 62% (as of 10.58 pm PT)
Mitch Hubbard (R): 36%(as of 10.58 pm PT)
Click here for updated results.

76% reporting in Montana
Linda McCulloch (D): 49% (as of 10.58 pm PT)
Brad Johnson (R): 48% (as of 10.58 pm PT)
Click here for updated results.

72 % reporting in Oregon
Kate Brown (D): 50%
Rick Dancer (R): 48%
Click here for updated results.

4:30 pm PT / 7:30 pm ET: Polls close in West Virginia
5:00 pm PT / 8:00 pm ET: Polls close in Missouri
7:00 pm PT / 10:00 pm ET: Polls close in Montana
8:00 pm PT / 11:00 pm ET: Poll close in Oregon

In 2006, together we helped elect five candidates to Secretary of State positions in key 2008 battleground states: Ohio, Nevada, Iowa, New Mexico, and Minnesota. Today those Secretaries of State are a "firewall" against efforts by republican operatives to steal the election.

Stopping voter suppression at the source is the most efficient way to protect the election. But most of what we do happens under the radar. And when we elect a candidate to Secretary of State, the full impact isn't felt sometimes until years later.

Our 2006 candidates are actively working to protect the election. Read below an excerpt from an article about the impact of our work. And consider the impact our 2008 candidates -- if elected -- will have in 2010 and 2012.

Dems' firewall: Secretary of state offices

By: Avi Zenilman

November 2, 2008 08:31 PM EST

In anticipation of a photo-finish presidential election, Democrats have built an administrative firewall designed to protect their electoral interests in five of the most important battleground states.

The bulwark consists of control of secretary of state offices in five key states - Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio - where the difference between victory and defeat in the 2004 presidential election was no more than 120,000 votes in any one of them.

With a Democrat now in charge of the offices, which oversee and administer their state's elections, the party is better positioned than in the previous elections to advance traditional Democratic interests -such as increasing voter registration and boosting turnout - rather than Republican priorities such as stamping out voter fraud.

Perhaps more important, in those five states Democrats are now in a more advantageous position when it comes to the interpretation and administration of election law - a development that could benefit Barack Obama if any of those states are closely contested on Election Day.

The effort began in 2006 when a group of liberal California activists created an independent 527 group designed to elect secretaries of state.

The Secretary of State Project ran independent ads of its own and ensured that donors - many of whom were affiliated with Democracy Alliance, a network of wealthy fundraisers that channels money to liberal causes across the country - knew which candidates deserved donations.

They were frustrated by the ballot-counting actions of former Florida Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris in 2000, and former Ohio Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell in 2004, both former campaign chairmen for George W. Bush who became prominent electoral boogeymen to the left.

"We were tired of Republican manipulation of elections," said Michael Kieschnick, a founder of the group who is also the president of Working Assets, a company that provides credit cards and mobile phone services to progressive organizations.

"It seemed like lots of decisions were made by people who were pretty clearly political operatives."

Click here to read the rest of the article.

With the election just days away, five of our 2006 candidates are protecting the vote in key states: Jennifer Brunner in Ohio. Mark Ritchie in Minnesota. Michael Mauro in Iowa. Ross Miller in Nevada. And Mary Herrera in New Mexico.

But what about the 2010 election. And 2012? Elections being held on Tuesday will determine who runs elections in four key states. Two of our 2008 candidates in Missouri and West Virginia are near victory. Two more - in Oregon and Montana - are fighting their way to the finish.

Here's a summary of our fundraising efforts for 2008 -- both on and offline.

Linda McCulloch in Montana: 620 donors have given $14,584.06.
Kate Brown in Oregon: 582 donors have given $18,046.86.
Natalie Tennant in West Virginia: 534 donors have given $12,363.61
Robin Carnahan in Missouri:546 donors have given $13,457.85
Secretary of State Project strategic fund: donations total $223,487.85
Total donations raised for SoS Project and candidates this cycle: $281,940.23

Linda McCulloch and Kate Brown still need your help. Click here to learn more about donating now.

The Secretary of State Project has raised over $225,000 in 2008. This money is supporting four reform candidates for the chief election officer position in key states and our strategic work on behalf of clean elections. Over 1,000 donors nationwide are part of our efforts to stop voter suppression by electing Secretaries of State who support fair, free and transparent elections.

Money raised directly for our 2008 candidates:
$11,047 Linda McCulloch
$34,096 Kate Brown
$10,142 Robin Carnahan
$9,043 Natalie Tennant

Linda McCulloch is in a particularly tight race in Montana, where the current Republican Secretary of State is trying to roll back Election Day Registration. A recent fight over the potential disenfranchisement of 6,000 voters -- including service members in Iraq -- highlight the importance of this race. The contribution limit in this race is $310.00. That means small contributions can make the difference.

Kate Brown was considered a safe candidate until her opponent received a massive donation from the timber industry. There are no limits in Oregon which means a late infusion of cash by a single rightwing donor could swing the race.

Robin Carnahan in Missouri and Natalie Tennant in West Virginia have run great campaigns and are poised for victory.

Make a donation now to our slate of candidates -- with particular urgency in Montana and Oregon -- and to the Secretary of State Project strategic fund. Contributions you give today will protect the election tomorrow. Our 2006 campaign is helping to protect the election in Ohio in 2008. Our 2008 campaigns will help us put voting rights champions in charge of elections in states with key elections in 2010 and 2012.

It should be the government's responsibility to maintain a list of eligible voters. The movement to achieve this is called "universal registration." Until we have universal registration, nonprofits have to do the work of government and make sure citizens get on the rolls and stay there.

Community organizations that register a lot of minority, low income and youth voters come under attack by right wingers who want to suppress the vote and maintain our current system of disenfranchisement.

Today's Progress Report has an important round up on recent attacks to suppress the vote by attacking nonpartisan voter registration groups.

In recent weeks, conservatives have escalated their attacks on ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Conservative lawmakers were able to remove a provision aimed at aiding low-income housing programs from the Bush administration’s $700 billion economic bailout bill by calling it a "slush fund" for ACORN. Before that, conservatives blamed ACORN for "precipitating the subprime crisis." And last week, they alleged that the "purpose" of ACORN is to engage in voter fraud. However, as columnist Joel McNally correctly noted, the "underlying motive for attacking ACORN" seems to be that it is the "nation's largest grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people." "It is an organization that engages in that dreaded community organizing," McNally wrote. "It actually tries to give a voice to the poor and most vulnerable among us." Indeed, after years of enacting policies catering to the wealthy, the right-wing seems to be fearful of millions of new low-income voters registered by ACORN casting their ballots in favor of progressive policies.

Read the entire post here.

BILLINGS, Mont.—Montana Republicans on Tuesday abandoned their challenge to almost 6,000 voter registrations in key Democratic counties, after election officials said they would reject thousands of the challenges as invalid.


Republicans had notified seven counties last week that they were challenging the registrations of 5,977 voters whose addresses did not match a U.S. Postal Service database. Party leaders said they were trying to guard against voter fraud.


The maneuver—just weeks before the November election—drew criticism from state and county election officials who had to investigate the claims. Nonpartisan voter rights groups said there was no proof of fraud in the state and said the GOP effort was partisan-driven.

Read the AP story here.

What did Republican Secretary of State Brad Johnson do to stand up for the rights of challenged voters? Nothing. Linda McCulloch -- the former teacher and librarian challenging Brad Johnson for the SoS office -- had the following to say:

When it comes to protecting our fundamental right to the ballot, Montanans deserve leadership from their Secretary of State. They expect their elected officials to stand-up to obvious partisan manipulation of our election laws that jeopardize our right to vote. Brad Johnson's been silent," McCulloch said. "The Secretary of State has failed to offer leadership to county election officials and he's neglected to defend federal and state election laws. Montanans deserve better.

If you want to see Linda McCulloch protecting the vote in Montana, the campaign contribution limit is $310. Give as generously as you can. And tell some friends.

The scheme, which targets more than 6000 voters from traditional democratic strongholds, was hatched by the Montana Republican Party, which hired a third party, Integram, to check the state voter rolls in those areas against the US Postal Service's National Change of Address Database. The idea is to challenge the registration status of anyone from those communities who has, for any reason, had their mail forwarded.

But federal law specifically rejects the National Change of Address system, which records only changes in mailing address, not actual residency, as a basis for invalidating a voter's otherwise legal registration. The law also forbids mass challenges to the registration status of voters within 90 days of an upcoming election, for the reason that such efforts in the final days of an election invariably lead to chaos, confusion, and often to disenfranchisement of legal voters. This, of course, is the purpose of the effort now underway in Montana.

From the complaint:

"On the afternoon of Friday, October 3,2008, two days after Hill County started sending letters to challenged voters, Defendant Johnson finally provided formal guidance to the counties 'that may help you to process any challenge to a voter's registration.' Nowhere in this guidance does Defendant Johnson provide any means to resolve challenges that are unlawful when issued, without causing undue confusion among the electors unlawfully challenged. The Republican Defendants' scheme to threaten voters' registration status using the challenge procedure provided by state law. and Defendant Johnson's failure to instruct county election officials that they are prohibited from undertaking a last-minute mass review of the rolls of voters, has called into question the status of the 6,000 plus challenged voters on the eve of the election. This is precisely what the NVRA seeks to prevent."

Montana is not only a key state in this election, but it is a small state, meaning that the suppression of 6,000 votes there is a very big deal. In fact, in 2006, Democrat Jon Tester won his statewide election to the US Senate by just 3,562 votes. And it's an even bigger deal that the Republican Secretary of State is apparently enabling the efforts of his party's operatives to illegally disenfranchise American citizens.

With the election taking on a fevered pitch across the country, the national media probably sees a scheme to shut 6,000 Montana citizens out of the process as small potatoes. But when Secretaries of State, elected to insure fair and honest elections, and to protect the rights of citizens in a participatory democracy, are instead complicit in efforts to undermine those rights, then the very fabric of our system begins to fray and tear.

Fortunately, Brad Johnson is currently up for re-election, and he is vulnerable. Democrat Linda McCulloch, a former librarian and the current State Superintendent for Public Instruction is challenging Johnson, and she deserves all of our support.

The Secretary of State Project is dedicated to preserving the very nature of our democracy by supporting candidates, like Linda McCulloch in Montana, who will stand up to politically-motivated efforts at voter suppression. Because no one should have to file federal suit against a sitting Secretary of State to insure that they are following federal laws intended to protect our voting rights, and our democracy.

Updated 10/10:

In the face of the lawsuit by the Montana Democrats, state Republicans have apparently withdrawn their last-minute challenges to the 6,000 voters' registration status, and have indicated that contary to their previous claims to the media, they would not instigating additional, similar challenges.

According to the AP

In a letter sent to election officials in seven counties today (Tuesday), Montana Republican Party executive director Jacob Eaton said he was withdrawing the challenges and would be issuing no more.

Congratulations to the Montana Dems, but of course it shouldn't require a federal suit to protect the rights of citizens to vote in accordance with the law. That's supposed the job of the Secretary of State.

These individuals are no different than any other Missourian nor should their fundamental rights be jeopardized.

“These folks are hurting," Carnahan said in a statement. "The lives they built have been turned upside down because they can no longer provide a home for their families. This is the most crucial time to vote, and the possibility of losing that right should be the last thing they worry about.”

With those words, Carnahan makes clear the importance of supporting candidates for Secretary of State who will protect, rather than threaten Americans’ right to vote.

Of the 27,000 (and growing) Missourians whose homes have been added to public foreclosure lists, many still reside in those homes. Of those who have moved, those who have remained in the county can simply update their address at any time up to or including Election Day. Those who have left the county have the option of registering at their new address (until October 8 in Missouri) or voting absentee under their current registration if they move after the deadline.

Election reformers are currently fighting for a portable, universal system of voter registration that would eliminate the inconvenience and confusion of the current system. But until that is achieved, it is vital that we support and elect Secretaries of State like Robin Carnahan, and candidates like Linda McCulloch in Montana, Kate Brown in Oregon, and Natalie Tennant in West Virginia.

Imagine, at the very moment when eight years of Republican-led economic misrule has resulted in record foreclosures and the physical displacement of hundreds of thousands of Americans, those same republicans are attempting to keep those affected from responding to the crisis through the democratic process. That’s why we need to elect Secretaries of State who will stand up for the voting rights of ALL Americans ALL of the time.

“There is no place in our state for targeting those in foreclosure proceedings and questioning their right to vote,” said Carnahan. “I will not stand for partisan games that aim to prevent eligible voters from participating in this election.”

After the Ohio legislature gave the nod to "no excuse" early voting this year, Brunner issued a directive allowing people to register to register and vote during a single visit to their local elections office. The state Republican Party and a pair of local operatives sued to try to prevent the directive from taking effect, but two federal judges have now upheld a decision from the state's highest court allowing it to stand.

Brunner called yesterday's ruling by the Ohio State Supreme Court "a victory for all Ohio voters," and said it "sends a strong message to the forces of confusion and chaos that our top goal must be protecting Ohioans' voting rights."

We couldn't agree more.

This week's same day registration/early voting period in Ohio is expected to bring thousands of new and traditionally underrepresented voters into the democratic process, including students, low income people, people of color and new citizens - the same populations whose voting rights were curtailed by Republican voter suppression tactics in 2004.

What a difference it makes to have a Secretary of State committed to fair and ethical elections. That's why our 2008 slate targets clean elections candidates in Montana, Oregon, Missouri and West Virginia. Your contribution helps us stand up for candidates who will stand up for fairness.

This cycle, one of our key states this cycle is Montana. Where a Republican operative who serves as Secretary of State threatens to roll back pro-democracy reforms and suppress the votes of students and minorities.

In the 2006 election, Montana farmer Jon Tester won his Senate race by less one percent, a mere 3,562 votes. The margin can be attributed to increased turnout as a result of Election Day Registration.

Transparency, democracy reform, and fair elections. That's what the Secretary of State Project works to achieve in key states. Election Day Registration in Montana helps more people cast a ballot that counts. and when more people vote -- especially people who have been traditionally disenfranchised like students, low-income folks, and African Americans -- we get leaders who represent all of the people, not just the monied interests.

Take a close look at this year's race for Montana Secretary of State. Linda McCulloch is challenging incumbent Republican Brad Johnson. She wants to help students and Native Americans vote. He wants make elections less fair and limit which citizens can cast a ballot on election day.

She's a former teacher and librarian, and currently holds the statewide office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. In that job she manages more people and a larger budget than the Secretary of State. Who is Brad Johnson? He's a Republican operative and former software salesman. He self-funded his first run for office with $117,000 or 66.37 percent of his campaign funds coming out of his own pocket, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. He opposes Election Day Registration which provided the margin for Jon Tester's Senate win in 2006. She supports it.

This year Brad Johnson is vulnerable, but he's also outspending Linda McCulloch and can go deep into his own pockets to defeat her insurgent campaign to throw him out of office.

Montana has very low campaign contribution limits which means high number of small campaign contributions from the grassroots can make a big difference. Personally, I'm not a big political giver, but I gave $310 -- the maximum allowed by law -- to Linda McCulloch's campaign for Montana Secretary of State.

Electing reform-minded Secretaries of State is the most effective way to ensure clean elections. If you want to stop voter suppression at the source, make a contribution to McCulloch and our Secretary of State candidates in Oregon, Missouri and West Virginia today. Tell your friends who care about stopping the next Katherine Harris to consider us, too. Together we can take back our democracy.