While 100% of precincts are counted, note that much of Washington state votes by mail, so quite a few votes are left to count over the next several days. That said, Seattle/King County (which votes exclusively by mail) only has had 24% of its votes counted and is underrepresented in the statewide totals. All expectations are that the yes-on-71 vote margin will increase as more Seattle votes are counted tomorrow.

I live in King County and while I support mail in voting, I do not like the election day postmark rule. In Oregon, ballots are due to an official drop spot by the end of election day. How can we really know with how many ballots we are even dealing with if a tone of people mail them on election day?? I think it needs to be changed.

The numbers of remaining votes for Pierce county (Tacoma and vicinity) look messed up. With the current numbers, turnout there is weirdly low. It's a populous county, so its votes could matter. On the other hand, the vote in Pierce was only slightly against 71. Lincoln county's numbers are even stranger, but that's a very low population county, so it's much less likely to make a difference.

A side note: Comparing the results for 71 and 1033 (which would have frozen future spending at the limits set during the current recession) gives an interesting look at the state. Both appear to be liberal-versus-conservative issues on their surface, but some counties voted very differently on the two measures. Probably it's a religious/libertarian divide showing up.

While the immediate results from Maine are somewhat disappointing, progressives and liberals should nevertheless be encouraged that public "Aye" votes on gay marriage and civil unions are at the cusp of 50%, which is a far cry from where the issue was back in 1998.

Further, Washington voters have apparently upheld that state's civil unions statute, and the Matthew Shepard Act has finally been passed and signed into law - and really, who'd have thought that any of that would have been possible a generation ago?

As the older generations pass from the scene, the results of the last few electoral battles reflect that opponents of GLBT civil rights are pissing into ever-stronger winds of social change and justice, as their political extremism gradually loses favor with an increasingly exasperated public that's becoming ever more weary of indulging such homophobic zealotry.

In short, with their opposition having just about punched themselves out at the ballot box and in state legislatures, GLBT advocates are still standing in the ring and showing no signs of going away. The prevailing side will be the one with the necessary fortitude and staying power, and in that regard, the march of history and time is most always the ally of progressive change.