rssPosts by John Tomasic
John Tomasic has worked as a writer and editor at various news, literary and academic publications, including at the Huffington Post, Business 2.0 magazine and Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope All-Story. He was managing editor at OffTheBus, the Huffington Post’s 2008 presidential-election citizen-journalism project, and editor at Pop+Politics, a journalism training program and website hosted by USC's Annenberg School. He was an analyst for the UN commission established to investigate war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. He has a master's degree in history and has taught at universities in America and Europe.
Obama Wins Second Term
Americans voted to reelect President Barack Obama tonight, giving him four more years to work to expand the economy and drive down stubborn unemployment numbers. Throughout the long campaign, voters told pollsters they favored his steady demeanor and, in the end, embraced his vision of a government that sought to prioritize middle class opportunity, in part through a federal tax policy that asks the top earners in the country to pay the same rates they paid in the Clinton years, when the U.S. economy boomed.
Election Day youth voters heading to polls in steady stream at CU
BOULDER– Students make up a key voting bloc for Democrats this year, as they did in 2008 and, according to volunteers at the University of Colorado’s flagship campus today, voting enthusiasm has picked up considerably since President Obama visited here on Thursday. Volunteers said voters are heading to campus polling stations at a steady trickle today and that they expect larger waves of students to turn out in the afternoon and evening.
State ethics commission, Denver DA investigating Secretary of State Gessler
Hours before Election Day in Colorado, controversial Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler has become the subject of criminal and state ethics investigations for allegedly misappropriating roughly $2000 in state funds for personal travel and expenses.
In Colorado, voters do not have to show a photo ID
Potential battles at polling place around the country, including here in Colorado, have been heating up for months. Voter protection volunteers– those mostly on the right looking to guard against fraud and those mostly on the left looking to guard against voter intimidation– have already reported they will be watching for polling place irregularities in counties across Colorado tomorrow. At very least, those volunteers and all registered voters in Colorado should know that voters do not need to show photo identification in order to cast their ballots in this state. Polling place staff can accept photo IDs but they must also, for example, accept as legitimate identification current utility bills, bank statements and paychecks.
Democrats see good news in evolving vote totals
The last round of early-vote tallies in Colorado are buoying Democratic campaigns with just hours to go before Election Day. The latest totals reportedly support trend-lines predicted by Democratic politicos for weeks.
Obama taps energized Boulder supporters for crucial last-stretch turn-out-the-vote drive
BOULDER– In a speech that alternated between conversational asides and full-throat exhortations, President Obama rallied roughly 11,000 supporters at the packed Coors Event Center on the University of Colorado campus here Thursday. It was the latest but not the last scheduled event in the high-intensity swing-state get-out-the-vote effort his campaign here has orchestrated for the final short stretch to Election Day next week.
In Colorado, GOP maintains edge in early voting
The latest early-vote tallies (pdf) released this afternoon by the Colorado secretary of state show Republican holding onto a steady lead. The Halloween release reported that registered Republicans have cast 38.2 percent of 1,150,698 votes collected so far in the state. Democrats have cast 35.2 percent and unaffiliated voters 25.6 percent. Today’s total percentages are roughly unchanged from Tuesday’s but, with less than a week to Election Day, less-partisan unaffiliated voters– the largest voting bloc in the state– seem to be beginning to turn out in greater numbers.
Watchdog eyes Pagosa boss, urges investigation in voter intimidation case
The 2012 election season has seen a surprising uptick in the number of employers willing to wade into voter intimidation gray areas by notifying their employees that their jobs depend on who wins the White House. The not so subtle message: Vote the way your boss wants you to vote.
Dems see upward trend in Colorado early voting numbers
Early voter numbers released this morning by the Colorado secretary of state’s office bring good news for Democrats. The lead notched by registered Republicans dipped a point over the weekend to 38 percent of all votes cast so far in the state. Registered Democrats stayed even at 36 percent and unaffiliated voters gained two points to hit 25 percent.
Republicans and Democrats celebrate Colorado early voter stats
Early-voter tallies released by the Colorado secretary of state today list registered Republicans in the state leading the pack. Of the more than 626,000 ballots so far collected here, Republicans have turned in 39.0 percent, Democrats 36.1 percent and unaffiliated voters 23.0 percent.
