Election Day Top 9

Today’s Top Election News

It may be an off-off-year election, but here are a few stories to check out before returns start rolling in later this evening.

• ThinkProgress: Support For Gun Regulation Helps McAuliffe, Opposition Hurts Cuccinelli In Virginia Race: Even in a state that has seen heavy campaign cash from the National Rifle Association, the gubernatorial candidate with the stronger stand against gun violence has a 7 point advantage, according to a new Public Policy Polling poll commissioned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

• ThinkProgress: Three Progressive Measures On Tuesday’s Ballot That You Should Know About: Congress may not be up for grabs, but Election Day 2013 still comes with high stakes for progressive economic policy ideas. On Tuesday, voters in Colorado, New Jersey, and a small Washington town are getting an up-or-down vote on some proposals that would improve lives both today and decades from now.

• ThinkProgress: A Climate Activist’s Guide To Election Day 2013: Many Americans go to the polls on Tuesday, and though a stable climate is not directly on the ballot anywhere, there are a few races and ballot initiatives that are worth keeping an eye on to find out what’s next for America’s odd relationship with carbon pollution.

• RH Reality Check: Anatomy of the War on Women — How the Koch Brothers Are Funding the Anti-Choice Agenda: Helping to drive the right-wing offensive in the states and in Congress is a network of deep-pocketed business titans convened by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, principals in Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held corporation in the United States. Like the Kochs themselves, many of the donors in the brothers’ networks signal disinterest in fighting against women’s rights or LGBTQ rights, yet anti-choice groups have seen their coffers swell with millions of the network’s dollars.

• Washington Post: Latino voters say health care, controversial remark spur them to turn out for McAuliffe: Some Latinos who turned out to vote in the Northern Virginia suburbs on Tuesday said they were supporting Democrat Terry McAuliffe for governor because they believed his opponent is anti-immigrant. Republican Ken Cuccinelli II, Virginia’s attorney general, was pilloried in a Democratic campaign commercial for a remark he made criticizing a D.C. law on pest control, which he claimed prevented the killing of rats.

• Washington Post: In Alabama Election, A Showdown Between the GOP Establishment and The Tea Party: The long-running battle for the heart and soul of the national Republican Party will play out here on Tuesday in the form of a nasty little House special-election primary, pitting business-oriented establishment Republicans against angry and energized tea party insurgents who have become a dominant voice in the GOP.

• New York Times: Colorado Is Asking Taxpayers for $1 Billion to Help Schools: For decades, schools like these have struggled to keep pace with their bigger and wealthier neighbors. On Tuesday, Colorado will try to address those problems with one of the most ambitious and sweeping education overhauls in the country, asking voters to approve a $1 billion tax increase in exchange for more school funding and an educator’s wish-list of measures.

• ThinkProgress: Portland, Maine May Become First East Coast City To Legalize Pot: The city’s voters will decide whether to remove all penalties for adult possession.

• Daily Kos: Cuccinelli ends campaign rallying with Ron Paul, who calls for ‘nullification’: Kind of a fitting way for Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign to wrap things up. Headlining the final rally of Ken Cuccinelli’s underdog campaign for Virginia governor, Ron Paul suggested the “nullification” of Obamacare on Monday night.