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Majority Rule Needed, Not a Recall
Posted Sep 08, 2008 2:04am
by Elliott D. Petty
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Posts with the tag california - February 2008
In the aftermath of Super Tuesday's election issues in Los Angeles, we've heard from tons of voters with stories about ballot problems. Voters like Julian H.:
It looks like half of the DTS ballots in Los Angeles- about 94,000 votes- will not be counted. But Courage continues to work with Dean Logan in LA to ensure that, no matter who people were voting for, every DTS ballot gets counted.
On the flip, Rick Jacobs provides a full, in-depth rundown of everything that's been going on. Read More »
I've been following politics before I even hit my teens.
And 2 weeks before this election, I turned 18, with my registration in
weeks before. I knew the issues, the candidates, the propositions, and
for the fist time in my life cast a ballot. I heard the next day about
the double bubble. No one at the polls mentioned it, and I didn't see
instructions that even pointed to its existence. It's not such a great
feeling that you're first close up experience in a system you've
watched for so long at a distance could have amounted to
nothing.
It looks like half of the DTS ballots in Los Angeles- about 94,000 votes- will not be counted. But Courage continues to work with Dean Logan in LA to ensure that, no matter who people were voting for, every DTS ballot gets counted.
On the flip, Rick Jacobs provides a full, in-depth rundown of everything that's been going on. Read More »
Well everything that Courage Campaign was worried about seems to be happening as the Los Angeles ballot issue turns into a full debacle. The San Francisco Chronicle is is running with the story and raising the question of how long this ballot has been in use.
Reactions from many of the players involved can be found on the flip, but here's the short version. Given the convoluted delegate system in California, a lot of delegates on the Democratic side could potentially be impacted by voting irregularities in Los Angeles county. And since the Democratic race appears to be destined to remain deadlocked for quite some time, this mess may stretch on for quite a while as delegate counts are fought over by interests that stretch way beyond Los Angeles County. That's the pragmatism. The principle is that the law should be followed and people should be allowed to vote.
Everybody talks a bunch on the flip. Read More »
Reactions from many of the players involved can be found on the flip, but here's the short version. Given the convoluted delegate system in California, a lot of delegates on the Democratic side could potentially be impacted by voting irregularities in Los Angeles county. And since the Democratic race appears to be destined to remain deadlocked for quite some time, this mess may stretch on for quite a while as delegate counts are fought over by interests that stretch way beyond Los Angeles County. That's the pragmatism. The principle is that the law should be followed and people should be allowed to vote.
Everybody talks a bunch on the flip. Read More »
You can download the pdf version of the Courage Campaign lawyer letter here
Through all of our efforts to get DTS voters out and well equipped to vote in tomorrow's Democratic primary (thanks in no small part to your support, it's looking like Los Angeles County has managed to add an extra wrinkle that could cause all sorts of problems. This is a sample of the ballot in which a DTS voter must not only request the ballot and vote for president, but mark at the top of the ballot that they want to vote in the Democratic primary. Voting for the candidate, apparently, is not enough of an indication of intent.
This is a big enough deal that Barack Obama just sent out an email on the subject:
This is mixed in with the procedure for provisional ballots and the times that polls are open. Why is this such a big deal? Because nearly 20% of Los Angeles County voters are Decline To State. That works out to 776,000 DTS voters in Los Angeles County- which is 75% of the total number of Democratic votes cast in every primary and caucus so far. Needless to say, even on Super Tuesday, that's a big deal.
But it's even more odious than that. The law is pretty clear on this sort of thing and, well, it's not exactly on the right side of the law. And that has gotten the Courage Campaign legal team into high gear, sending a letter saying in part
But in the meantime, make sure you and everyone you know double checks the ballot before turning it in. This is the one that we know about, but there could be all sorts of variations on this theme throughout the state.
Update: Full letter from the Courage Campaign lawyer on the flip (or download the pdf version) Read More »
Through all of our efforts to get DTS voters out and well equipped to vote in tomorrow's Democratic primary (thanks in no small part to your support, it's looking like Los Angeles County has managed to add an extra wrinkle that could cause all sorts of problems. This is a sample of the ballot in which a DTS voter must not only request the ballot and vote for president, but mark at the top of the ballot that they want to vote in the Democratic primary. Voting for the candidate, apparently, is not enough of an indication of intent.
This is a big enough deal that Barack Obama just sent out an email on the subject:
If you declined to select a political party when you registered to vote, you can still vote for Barack Obama if you request a Democratic ballot from the poll worker. Make sure you mark "Democratic" in the appropriate space or the vote might not be counted.
This is mixed in with the procedure for provisional ballots and the times that polls are open. Why is this such a big deal? Because nearly 20% of Los Angeles County voters are Decline To State. That works out to 776,000 DTS voters in Los Angeles County- which is 75% of the total number of Democratic votes cast in every primary and caucus so far. Needless to say, even on Super Tuesday, that's a big deal.
But it's even more odious than that. The law is pretty clear on this sort of thing and, well, it's not exactly on the right side of the law. And that has gotten the Courage Campaign legal team into high gear, sending a letter saying in part
DTS voters requesting partisan ballots and registered Democratic and American Independent voters will receive the exact same Ink-a-Vote ballot. However, contrary to statutory provisions set forth in the Election Code, Los Angeles County requires DTS voters to complete an additional hurdle by marking either box number 5 (for American Independent ballots) or box number 6 (for Democratic party ballots) or their vote for President of the United States will not be counted. Invalidating a ballot based solely upon the failure to mark a box, (box 5 or 6) even though the voter has cast his/her ballot for a candidate for president, constitutes an improper basis for rejection and a policy that violates the rights of DTS voters. (See Cal. Elec. Code 15154(c).)
But in the meantime, make sure you and everyone you know double checks the ballot before turning it in. This is the one that we know about, but there could be all sorts of variations on this theme throughout the state.
Update: Full letter from the Courage Campaign lawyer on the flip (or download the pdf version) Read More »
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