Posted on 12/14/2004 12:56:03 PM PST by SmithL
SAN DIEGO -- A recount began Tuesday in the San Diego mayor's race, with observers examining disqualified ballots that apparently were cast for a maverick city councilwoman who ran a surprising write-in campaign.
The unprecedented review could answer a question that, so far, is only theoretical: Would Councilwoman Donna Frye have won if enough of her supporters had darkened an oval after writing her name on the ballot?
Frye supporters argue that several thousand ballots with Frye's name on them were ignored because state law requires the corresponding oval be darkened.
Incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy, who was sworn in for a second term last week, beat Frye by 2,108 votes, according to the final tally of the Nov. 2 vote by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters. Both candidates finished ahead of County Supervisor Ron Roberts.
Frye, who has refused to concede the race, has not yet decided whether she will pursue a legal challenge. She has until Jan. 7, 30 days from the vote's certification, to do so.
Four recount requests were filed in the race. Most were from news media organizations seeking to examine the write-in ballots cast for Frye, a surf-shop owner and environmental activist who often clashes with the city's political establishment.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Typical Democrat. Know anything about this onyx?
They have optically counted ballots where you black in a circle next to the candidate's name. In the case of a write-in, you have to both black in the circle next to the write-in spot AND write in the candidate's name. This apparently was beyond the powers of concentration for some of the lady's supporters; they wrote in her name, but failed to blacken the circle next to the spot. Thus these voters clearly indicated their intent (otherwise, why write in her name?), but they failed to follow the rules. These votes were left uncounted; she has sued to get them counted. It is possible that they could provide her a margin of victory.
Hey, it's not fair if you're gonna use Photoshop to touch her picture up.
I only touched up the caterpillar growing above her upper lip.
Frye is in charge of investigating how/why all the pension money disappeared during the mayor's term. He probably would have been smart to let her have the office and start a consulting business with satellites office in countries w/o extradition treaties. :-)
Exactly. At her press conferences where she was showing her followers to write in her name, she clearly demonstrated filling in the bubble in addition to writing her name. She knew what the law is, and that it might be a problem.
I was talking to a couple of my liberal friends who voted for her about this when the story came up on the news. One mentioned voter intent. I said that it didn't matter what the intent was if they didn't follow the rule of law with respect to casting a proper vote. I brought up the scenario about a person walking into a polling station and saying to the person behind the table, "I'd like to vote for Dick Murphy for mayor" and walking out without filling in the bubble. Should this be counted as a legitimate vote cast for Dick Murphy since the guy clearly intended to take the effort to go to the polling station and vote, but didn't follow the procedure set up by law? I said it shouldn't, and she agreed.
It turns out she didn't fill in the bubble, either.
Cases of ambiguous ballots have, in the past, often been decided on the basis of "the voter's intent". What it takes to establish the voter's intent is going to vary based on the judge involved, the laws of that state, etc.
IIRC, California state law requires the bubble to be filled in for write-in candidates, but anything can happen here, and the laws often don't matter!
The mayor was sworn in last Friday, I believe.
Lib candidate loses, lib candidate tries to have ballots counted THAT ACCORDING TO THE LAW DO NOT COUNT AND NEVER HAVE, lib candidate laments to lamestream press "count every vote". I'm sure - dead sure - they'll rustle up some blacks who voted for her, who will continue the "we've been disenfranchised" screed.
The review, being conducted by representatives of the mayoral candidates and several media outlets, found 4,180 ballots on which voters wrote Democratic Councilwoman Donna Frye's name but failed to darken a bubble next to the write-in line as required by state law, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on its Web site.
Republican Mayor Dick Murphy beat Frye by 2,108 votes according to the election results certified by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters. He was sworn into office last week for a second term.
Fred Woocher, an elections lawyer, requested the ongoing review on behalf of two Frye supporters as the first step toward possibly asking a judge to include the "unbubbled" votes in the official tally.
"Our democracy is founded on the principle that we don't let technical errors prevent the people's will from being given effect," Woocher said.
Murphy's attorney, Bob Ottilie, has said the votes are not legal under state law.
Frye has until Jan. 7 to challenge the certified results.
As good as it gets.
No, the pic could be smaller.
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