Republicans Make Historic Gains in State Legislatures, Pick Up Hundreds of Seats

Republicans matched their historic victories in Congress with a sweep of state legislative chambers across the country Tuesday, a feat which will have considerable bearing on the next election. 

The GOP picked up at least 19 chambers and hundreds of seats, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures -- though the tally is not final and Republican recruitment arm GOPAC pegs the party's chamber pickups at about 23. In several states, Republicans took control of both chambers and the governor's seat. 

Though the taking of the U.S. House of Representatives overshadowed the victories for the Republican Party on the state level, the state legislatures take on outsized importance ahead of the 2012 cycle. State governments are responsible for redrawing the congressional districts in accordance with the results of the 2010 Census, and the GOP now has a much stronger voice in that process. 

"It is truly historic that we could flip that many legislative chambers in one off-year election," GOPAC Chairman Frank Donatelli told FoxNews.com. "It's broad, it's deep and it's across the entire country." 

The party picked up 20 chambers in the 1994 election and with the balance of power still unclear in several states, the GOP could surpass that performance in 2010. 

The state-level GOP wave could help their congressional counterparts build a bigger majority in the next cycle. Donatelli noted that it also gives Republicans an immediate chance to push their agenda while the U.S. Congress potentially falls prey to political deadlock. 

"We can now begin the reform process in a lot of these states right now. We don't have to wait for 2012 to happen," he said. 

Overall, more than 6,100 state legislative seats were up for grabs in 46 states. Republican state legislative candidates made a net gain of more than 500 seats on Tuesday, giving them more seats than at any time since 1928, according to the NCSL. 

In several states, the party took total control of one or two branches of government. 

The GOP took back both chambers in Alabama, North Carolina, Minnesota, Maine, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. They also took control of the state legislatures in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio by winning the House -- they already held the Senate in those states. 

To boot, former GOP Rep. John Kasich ousted Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in Ohio. Republican Tom Corbett also took the Pennsylvania gubernatorial seat back from the Democrats, as did Republican Rick Snyder in Michigan. Republican governors will be in place in Alabama, Maine and Wisconsin as well. 

Since redistricting is often subject to a veto by the governor, single-party control of government is ideal for Republicans trying to shape the districts to their liking. 

In New York, Republicans were seeking to take back the state Senate, but it was still too close to call. 

More chambers were expected to fall from the Democrats, as voters registered their disenchantment with an anemic economy, high unemployment and an overall gloomy national mood leading up to the midterm elections. 

Michael Sargeant, director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said Democratic state candidates should be proud of the "hard-fought campaigns" they waged in a year when the tide was surging against them. 

"During a national recession, Democratic legislative majorities have worked hard to reverse the damage their states have suffered from national Republican policies. Democrats didn't back away from tough decisions, and their efforts to create and save jobs while balancing state budgets rarely received support from their Republican colleagues," he said in a statement. "In tough times Democratic legislators provided the steady leadership and made the wise investments needed to move their states forward." 

A bright spot for Democrats was in Illinois, President Obama's home state. The GOP had the Illinois House on its target list, but Democrats were able to fend off Republicans to retain control of both the House and Senate. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Illegal Aliens Canvass for Votes in Wash. State

SEATTLE -- When Maria Gianni is knocking on voters' doors, she's not bashful about telling people she is in the country illegally. She knows it's a risk to advertise to strangers that she's here illegally -- but one worth taking in what she sees as a crucial election.

The 42-year-old is one of dozens of volunteers -- many of them illegal immigrants -- canvassing neighborhoods in the Seattle area trying to get naturalized citizens to cast a ballot for candidates like Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who is in a neck-to-neck race with Republican Dino Rossi.

Pramila Jayapal, head of OneAmerica Votes, says the campaign is about empowering immigrants who may not feel like they can contribute to a campaign because they can't vote.

"Immigrants really do matter," Jayapal said. "If we can't vote ourselves, we're gonna knock on doors, or get family members to vote."

So far the illegal immigrants going door-to-door aren't meeting opposition. Craig Keller, an organizer for Respect WA, a group pushing for stricter immigration law in the Washington, said he doesn't mind illegal immigrants volunteering for vote drives, he just wants to make sure mistakes on the voter rolls don't allow them to vote.

"Anybody can go out and wave a sign, but when it comes to who's making the choices, there's no question they need to be citizens," Keller said.

In close elections across the country, the immigrant and minority vote is considered key for candidates, especially Democrats.

Earlier this week in Nevada, a television ad urging Latinos not to vote sparked outcry from Democrats, who called it a dirty trick meant to keep Hispanics home and boost Republican candidates. Univision and Telemundo -- the nation's two largest Spanish-language networks -- canceled the ad, which the Republican group Latinos for Reform had planned to eventually run in Nevada, Florida, California, Texas and Colorado through the Nov. 2 election.

Seattle is home to a wide array of immigrant communities, from Latinos to east Africans and Asians.

Congress declined this year to consider overhauling the country's immigration law, much to the chagrin of immigrant advocates who had expected Democrats to do so by now.

Still, OneAmerica Votes launched one of the largest get-out-the-vote campaigns in the state on behalf of Democratic candidates. The organization is an offshoot of OneAmerica, one of the state's largest and the most influential immigrant-rights advocacy group.

Through home visits, phone banks and mailings the organization is aiming to reach about 40,000 registered voters in the Seattle area in an attempt to help Democrats gain ground in key races. Volunteers include other types of people who can't vote, such as legal permanent residents.

About 150 volunteers rolled out in nine cities across Washington this past week, knocking on 3,000 doors.

In Bellevue, a city of nearly 123,000 east of Seattle, Gianni knocked on 25 doors and spoke to 15 people, she said.

One man, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, said he knew what she was going through after she shared she was in the country illegally.

"There's always a risk," Gianni said in Spanish about her legal status. "But if there's a change, I would feel like I contributed, even in a small part, to a change we all need."

Gianni arrived in the United States on a visa 13 years ago looking for work and stayed. For a while her only son lived here, but has since moved back to Mexico.

"In order for there to be a change to our broken immigration system," she said, "I believe one has to fight."

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EXCLUSIVE: Feds to Sue New York Board Over Military Voting Violations, State Official Says

The New York State Board of Elections has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle a lawsuit targeting New York City and four other counties the DOJ has accused of violating the MOVE Act, the state board’s chairman told FoxNews.com on Tuesday.

The agreement was worked out between the Elections Board and the DOJ on Friday and on Tuesday morning, Douglas Kellner, co-chairman of the state board, told FoxNews.com. 

He said the agreement was expected to be filed later today in conjunction with an official complaint. 

The consent order, Kellner said, would give the federal authorities power to ensure MOVE Act compliance in New York City and four counties — Putnam, Erie, Niagara and Westchester — which still hadn't mailed out their absentee ballots as of their latest deadline.

The legal action would mark the most aggressive federal intervention yet amid an ongoing debate over how to enforce compliance with the 2009 Military and Overseas Voters Empowerment Act, known as the MOVE Act. The Department of Justice is expected to intervene in several New York counties that missed deadlines intended to ensure that overseas ballots are sent, received and counted on time.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement:

"The department is in urgent discussions with New York officials aimed at achieving a prompt resolution to ensure our men and women serving in the military and our citizens living overseas have the opportunity to vote and have their votes counted."

Kellner said the court order likely will mandate one or a combination of the following:

— Further extend the deadline for when returning ballots can be counted.

— Require election boards that are just now mailing ballots to do so by express mail.

— Send an e-mail notification to every absentee voter on file reminding them that they can download their ballot over the Internet or have the ballot e-mailed to them.

“In either case, the voter would have to print it out,” Kellner said of the third provision, “which doesn’t work for everybody.” (Military personnel serving on the front lines are unlikely to have a printer they can use to easily print out ballots.)

The New York State Board of Elections certifies state ballots and holds a supervisory role over the individual county boards, but the individual counties are charged with getting their own ballots out.   

On Sunday, FoxNews.com reported exclusively that the four New York counties and New York City had missed the deadline. The 2009 MOVE Act requires states to send out ballots to military and overseas voters 45 days prior to an election.

New York State had been granted a waiver to this provision by the Justice Department, giving the local boards an extra 15 days to get their ballots out — until Oct. 1. But that date came and went, and the ballots in the city and four counties remained unsent.

“The Department of Justice certainly wants remedial action — as do we — and a court order might be helpful in that it will give DOJ direct powers of contempt over five county boards that have been out of compliance,” Kellner said.

He said that the five elections boards were told of their legal and legislative obligations to get all absentee ballots out by Oct. 1, but they flouted the law.

“There is no excuse other than defiance,” Kellner said. “They were told what their obligations were, but they didn’t agree with it — and I understand why. It’s because New York’s general election ballot isn’t final yet. The last day for making substitutions is tomorrow.”

Under New York’s election schedule, ballots have until Oct. 12 to be finalized, meaning that the version of the ballot available by the state’s extended deadline was not the final accurate ballot. 

“But the state board certified the ballot and reminded them they were still required to send out the ballots. They were required to use the form that was certified on that date," Kellner said. "Some of the local boards thought they knew better than state board of elections or Congress or legislature and did it their own way. ...

“They should drop everything and get these ballots on plane to Afghanistan immediately.”

On Monday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg weighed in.

"I don’t know whether or not the Board of Elections has failed to send out absentee ballots to the military or anybody else, but if they have failed it really is reprehensible," Bloomberg told Fox News.

"We send our young men and women overseas to fight and to die for us, and we don’t care enough to make sure they get the right to exercise their franchise? That’s what they’re over there fighting for as much as anything else."  

By Monday night, it remained unclear just which of the counties still had yet to mail their ballots. 

David Kogelman, counsel to the New York Senate Election Committee, said the Senate Election Committee would be calling for oversight hearings into why the ballots didn’t all get out in time.

“They should’ve gone out, and the State Senate — we’re going to be looking into why they didn't get sent out on time,” Kogelman said. “I’m sure the ballots will be sent out at some point.”

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