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As we reported, more than 70 percent of precincts have delivered voting results -- and Proposition 203, Arizona's Medical Marijuana Initiative, is losing by a narrow margin. As this is being written, Prop 203's down by less than a percentage point.
In other words, Prop 203 looks like it's going to come down to the wire, and proponents, who've been holding up at Alice Cooper'stown, are nervous about the close margin. The enthusiasm here, running high until Maricopa County reported a losing vote for Prop 203, has become subdued.
Among those in favor of Prop 203 is Joe Sawinski, a board member of the Phoenix chapter of the National Organization of the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
"The climate here right now is such that people are pitted against each other about SB 1070, and all kinds of other problems," he says. "If Prop 203 loses, I'm going to blame this state's current political climate."
Andrew Myers of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project, which authored and sponsored Prop 203, addressed the crowd at 10 p.m.: "We're closing the gap, and we're closing it quickly."
Just after 11 p.m., Myers gave us this statement: "We still have outstanding counties that haven't reported, like Pima. The numbers are close," Myers said. "We're separated by 8,000 votes, but there are still absentee and provisional ballots to be counted. We probably won't know the results until tomorrow...I'm very hopeful that at the end of this process, we're going to win."
Last call has gone out at Cooper'stown, but a huge crowd is still here, hoping the gap on Prop 203 closes even further tonight.
Check back with Valley Fever tomorrow for full election results.