For Reynolds's family, that close ballot serves as a positive sign that the Hall's recently created Golden Era Committee will choose him when it meets next month in Dallas.
They particularly opposed the change because voters from abroad seemed to favor right-wing parties, so that in the event of a very close ballot, votes from non-residents could tip the scale in favour of Peterle.
His win cemented a Democratic sweep across the longtime conservative stronghold of Orange County, with the 39th the last of the four Republican-held congressional districts to fall in the county after close ballot counting prolonged the drama.
"Our proposal has won a consensus for the university to reunite," he said, with visible relief, at the close of balloting.
Messier beat out the Boston defenseman Ray Bourque by 2 points in the closest balloting ever for the trophy.
Parker edged Minnesota's Maya Moore and Chicago's Elena Delle Donne in one of the closest ballots in league history.
Ballot access: After an embarrassing presidential primary election that tried to lock out Senator John McCain, there was hope that New York's notoriously closed ballots would finally be opened.
At issue is the fate of Senate Bill 6482, the measure devised by the Democratic minority leader, Martin Connor, to clean up the closed-ballot system that forced Senator John McCain to wage an expensive legal battle to compete statewide in New York's March 7 presidential primary.
Paul Pflug, a spokesman for Summit Entertainment, which distributed "The Hurt Locker," also declined to comment on the ruling, which was announced late Tuesday, shortly before the 5 p.m. close of Oscar balloting.
The upside for MF to delay: if MF refuses to do a deal before balloting closes, they get to tell SAG members "don't change horses in mid-stream, stay the course".
