Interesting. The Anaheim battle is not quite over. While it is likely that the incumbents will retain their seats, it turns out there are just under 240,000 absentee ballots still at the Registrar's office, and only about 19,000 of them have been hand counted yet. That does not include the paper provisional ballots that had higher than usual numbers as folks (like me) decided to opt for paper rather than wait in line for a machine. You can follow the progress of the counting at http://www.ocvote.com/live/totalstocount.asp Nobody knows how many of those uncounted ballots are from Anaheim, so the race is still anyone's guess. But one can still hope for a total upset, right?
In the meantime, we can all focus on making Anaheim a better place to live outside of the government by participating in community events:
Our own Downtown Farmer's Market now enjoys expanded hours and you can do your shopping for local produce, handcrafts, etc from noon to 8 pm, so those who work somewhere other than SBC or City Hall can enjoy too!
While you are down on Center Street Promenade, pop across the street to celebrate art in Anaheim. The Anaheim Arts Council is hosting their Art in Public Places Awards, 5:30 pm on November 6, (that would be tonight) in the Anaheim City Council Chambers.
Anaheim Cultural and Heritage Commision is hosting "Celebrando el Arte", with a reception at the Downtown Community Center, on Friday November 7 at 5:30 pm. The DTCC is on Center between Anaheim Blvd and Olive.
Also on Friday night is a Casino Night fundraiser for the Police Activites League, at the Hotel Menage (nice place) Call Georgina Meza at 714-493-4631.
Special thanks to Andrea Manes' column in the Anaheim Bulletin, you don't think I look this stuff up myself, do you?
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A slight word of correction -- a provisional ballot is not the same as a paper ballot! "Provisional" ballots have validity issues that need to be resolved before they can be counted -- the voter claims they're registered but can't be found on the rolls at the polling place, the voter claims they never received their vote-by-mail ballot, etc. Paper ballots are just plain 'ol ballots (listed as "Election Day Paper Ballots" on the ROV's "What's Left To Count" page), with no validity questions.
As a poll worker in this election, I was trained to offer voters a choice between voting electronically or on paper, without making an attempt to influence which method they chose. Given that, I'm disappointed that the ROV seems totally unprepared to deal with counting paper ballots -- two days after the election, they can't even estimate how many they have to count, let alone tabulate them into the results!
By my rough count, approximately 25% of the voters in our precinct used paper ballots on election day. If our experience is at all typical, that's a lot of votes still floating around out there.
Thanks for the info, I had not understood they were different. And thanks for volunteering. My kids have worked the polls for years, but I admit I always chicken out on the long hours. It is frustrating that the system is not prepared to handle the paper. One friend tells me that 2 precincts in his neighborhood had their machines down and used paper exclusively, for a good portion of the evening. So there are a LOT of uncounted votes out there. And of course ever the optimist, I pray every one of them are for someone other than Galloway. Not that I feel strongly about it or anything.
Eight hours for the farmer's market? Long time--hey, as long as they're selling!
--Gustavo
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