They Write Letters: Bowen to Logan Edition
| By Julia Rosen, Online Political Director - Feb 15th, 2008 at 10:08 am PST |
| Also listed in: Election Protection California |
Rick is on his way to the Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan's office right now. The press has been invited to watch Rick deliver the stacks of 31,798 petitions and books filled with stories from 591 voters who have written into the Courage Campaign, worried that their votes are not being counted.
While we await Rick's report, here is some news. Secretary of State Debra Bowen yesterday sent a letter (pdf) to Los Angeles Registrar Dean Logan, requesting that he do an analysis of each precincts Roster of Voters to determine how many Decline-to-State voters requested which ballot. Once he does that and those results are tallied then they can reconcile that information with the ballots cast by DTS voters in each precinct. From there they can make an informed decision about the ability to determine voter intent.
This is all pretty dense, but Bowen explains the goal and how this would work in practice:
Then Secretary Bowen offers her assistance to make sure that the ballot design is changed to ensure we never have this problem again.
Secretary Bowen does not have the power to order Logan to perform this count, nor to change the ballot. She is using her influence on this situation motivate Logan to do the right thing. Hopefully the combination of this letter and the verbal instructions from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and stacks of petitions will kick Logan into gear. We are under a ticking clock. He only has 28 days from the election to certify the vote and any counts must be finished prior to that certification
While we await Rick's report, here is some news. Secretary of State Debra Bowen yesterday sent a letter (pdf) to Los Angeles Registrar Dean Logan, requesting that he do an analysis of each precincts Roster of Voters to determine how many Decline-to-State voters requested which ballot. Once he does that and those results are tallied then they can reconcile that information with the ballots cast by DTS voters in each precinct. From there they can make an informed decision about the ability to determine voter intent.
This is all pretty dense, but Bowen explains the goal and how this would work in practice:
When this analysis is complete, the County will be in a better position to determine whether it is truly impossible to determine the intent of a voter who filled in a bubble corresponding to the presidential candidate of their choice, but did not fill in the bubble indicating whether their vote had been cast for the Democratic Party or the American Independent Party presidential candidate.
The potential utility of this approach is best illustrated by the following example: If there were five DTS ballots voted n a particular precinct and a review of the Roster of Voters for that precinct indicated that all five of those DTS voters told the poll worker that they wished to vote for a candidate in the Democratic Party, then presumably all five of those ballots can be counted for the Democratic Party candidate that corresponds to the bubble filled in by each of the voters, regardless of whether a party selection bubble.
Then Secretary Bowen offers her assistance to make sure that the ballot design is changed to ensure we never have this problem again.
Turning to what must be done in future elections, I know you have state publicly on several occasions that the cross-over voting format used in the February 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election will no longer be used in Los Angels County. I appreciate your commitment to making this change. I am happy to work with you and your office to develop alternative options.
Secretary Bowen does not have the power to order Logan to perform this count, nor to change the ballot. She is using her influence on this situation motivate Logan to do the right thing. Hopefully the combination of this letter and the verbal instructions from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and stacks of petitions will kick Logan into gear. We are under a ticking clock. He only has 28 days from the election to certify the vote and any counts must be finished prior to that certification
Comments are closed for this post.
If I read the Secretary of State's letter correctly, she is asking the LA County Registrar's office to go through the Roster of Voters books (the book a voter signs when they first show up at their polling place), looking for notations indicating that a non-partisan voter indicated he/she wanted to 'cross-over' into the Democratic or American Independent party presidential primaries. Not just the 48 precincts that the LA Registrar used for his 1% sample, all the precincts. All 4379 of 'em.
Now, the precinct I worked at in Torrance had soemthing like 1100 names in it. Guessing that there were maybe 25 names per page, that means our Roster ran 42 pages.
So what is going to happen is some poor soul (or souls) is going to have to page through that roster, 25 names per page, maybe 40 or 50 pages per book, 4379 books, looking for a hastily scribbled hand-written notation that may or may not be there.
No way to automate the process, no way to have a computer do it. Manually examine every line on every page in every book.
I have no idea what kind of manpower the Registrar's office has to throw at soemthing like that. But it ain't gonna happen overnight, or even over a weekend. And - given that human beings are going to be doing it - it ain't likely to be all that accurate. (And it ain't gonna be cheap.)
Afterall - what's a few thousand votes between friends. We can fix it for next time...wait- didn't someone say that last time? But this time we'll mean it.
If you want to good, and fast, it ain't gonna be cheap. If you want it good and cheap, it ain't gonna be fast. And if you want it fast and cheap, it ain't gonna be good.
So, for those advocating that LA County undertake this exercise...pick any two.
I don't care if it costs time and money. This is the registrar's job. If they'd gotten the ballot right in the first place, we wouldn't be dealing with this now.
Every other county in the state managed to get the DTS voters votes to count. We owe it to the voters in LA to do the same.
Link
The inconsistencies in the public statement are all the proof that is needed to win a lawsuit contesting the ballot.
That is, first the Registrar argues that the ballot, on its face, was clear in its instructions. "Voter instructions provided in the sample booklets ... highlighted the steps ... when voting a cross over ballot"
Then, the Registrar points out that "additionally, this office engaged in extensive voter outreach and education ..."
This begs the question ... if the ballot were clear in its instructions, WHY would the office have needed to "engage in extensive voter outreach" in the first place?
Alternately, if "extensive voter outreach" was done, how could they claim not to forsee that the ballot design would disenfranchise anyone they did not "reach"?
Illegal, for sure. Evidence from the horse's mouth. (Forgive my trite sayings ...)
Here's the link
Link
Annette :)