Yes, The Fat Lady Is Singing...(Amended)

LOOKS LIKE WE'RE DONE
The Orange County Registrar of Voters, Neal Kelley, and his hardworking staff apparently have completed their task and the final ballots have been counted.  What you see below is what we get.  There is no indication of any subsequent reporting to be made.  Now we await him to send out the notices to the individual districts and cities regarding the results.  However, the fat lady, she is a'singing...  Speaking of which, click on the image below and sing along as you read the results.
ASTOUNDING TURNOUT!
According to the ROV page, HERE, there are 1,535,967 registered voters in Orange County.  of those, 1,239,405 (80.7%) of them actually cast ballots - an astounding number!

THIS SHOULD BE IT!
So, dear readers, here are what should be the FINAL numbers for this 2016 General Election for races that are important to us Costa Mesans.

COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL
Only a couple votes were added to these numbers today.  Sandy Genis continues to lead John Stephens - now by 222 votes.  Stephens leads Allan Mansoor by 2,682 votes.  Mansoor leads Mayor Steve Mensinger by 525 votes for the final seat.  Mensinger has surpassed Jay Humphrey by 190 votes.  Lee Ramos and Al Melone are far, far behind.

COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT
Both incumbents, Jim Ferryman and Art Perry, have been re-elected.  Perry has defeated Gary Monahan for the second seat available by 4,707 votes.  Jim Fitzpatrick and Christopher Luntsford trail the field.

MESA WATER DISTRICT
Incumbent Jim Fisler has soundly defeated challenger Alex Reich.

GROWTH ISSUES
Measure Y, the citizen-generated Smart Growth Initiative, has passed with 68.4% of the votes -  a more than 2-1 margin.  Measure Z, the City-generated measure designed to fool the voters, has also passed, but by a much smaller margin.

FAIRVIEW PARK ISSUES
Measure AA, the citizen-generated initiative created to protect Fairview Park from development, is passing by much more than a 2-1 margin - almost 71% of the votes cast.  Measure BB, the City-generated measure designed to fool the voters, has failed.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUES
Both citizen-generated Medical Marijuana issues, Measures V and W, have failed at the ballot box by significant margins.  Measure X, the City-generated measure that has no retail sales element, only manufacturing, testing, distribution in a small section of the city, has passed.

VOTE-BY-DISTRICTS
This measure, hijacked by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer to ignore the will of the people and add 6 districts and a directly-elected mayor to the mix, has passed.  Shame on Righeimer for diluting the potential Latino vote by this deception.

HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF CMSD BY MESA WATER
This meaningless advisory measure, placed on the ballot to fool the rate-payer of Mesa Water and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District into thinking the combination of those two organizations is a good idea, has "passed".  It means nothing and was, once again, a waste of rate-payer dollars by the Mesa Water Board.  No wonder they want to get their hands on the CMSD cash!

COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
All incumbents in these races won - handily.

NEWPORT MESA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
All incumbents in these three races won, too.

74TH STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
Matt Harper has defeated Karina Onofre.

37TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT
John Moorlach has defeated Ari Grayson.

48TH UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE
Dana Rohrabacher has defeated Dr. Suzanne Savary.

WHAT'S LEFT TO COUNT? (AMENDED)
The Registrar of Voters page has not updated these numbers, and show no counter as to when the next report will be made, so we're assuming that ALL votes have been counted.  There were only 152 left to count at the beginning of this day.  Now we wait for Kelley to post that "Final Results" note on his page and certify the races.
(AMENDED)
Kelley's mininons finally got this segment updated, so I'll post the individual entries here so you can archive the results.  Indeed, there are NO MORE BALLOTS LEFT TO COUNT:
Total estimated number of ballots counted (After Election Day): 416,994
Total vote-by-mail ballots counted: 98,806
Total provisionals counted: 130,300
Total Vote-by-mail ballots returned at the polls counted: 146,674
Total election day paper ballots counted: 27,014
Total Eligible Vote-by-Mail Ballots received after Election Day: 14,200

NEW COUNCIL TO BE SWORN-IN ON DECEMBER 13TH.
So, that's it for this cycle.  The new members of the Costa Mesa City Council will be sworn-in at a special meeting on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 and new leaders - Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem - will be selected.  Here's something for all of us to contemplate as we think back on this election.

Friday Night Election Results - 1,648 Votes Left

GETTING CLOSER...
Below you will find the results of the Registrar of Voters ballot counts through 5:00 p.m. today.  It's my understanding that the staff will be counting Saturday, but no word on Sunday.  It is presumed that they are on schedule to meet the mandatory deadline of all ballots counted and the election certified by December 8th - next Thursday.  There remain only 1,648 ballots left to count as of today.  You can read the full Orange County election results at the ROV site, HERE.

COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL
Incumbent Sandy Genis leads John Stephens by 224 votes.  Stephens leads former mayor Allan Mansoor by 2,681 votes.  Mansoor leads Mayor Steve Mensinger by 528 for the final seat.  Jay Humphrey trails Mensinger by 102 votes.  Lee Ramos and Al Melone trail the field.

COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT
Incumbent Jim Ferryman leads the pack, ahead of his fellow incumbent, Art Perry, by 3,598 votes.  Perry leads challenger and former member Gary Monahan by 4,707 votes.  Jim Fitzpatrick and Christopher Luntsford trail the field.  At a meeting of the CMSD Board today the winners were installed.  Apparently they follow a different set of rules and can, and have, sworn-in winners before the Registrar of Voters has certified the races.

MESA WATER DISTRICT
Incumbent Jim Fisler is trouncing challenger Alex Reich.

GROWTH ISSUES
Measure Y, the citizen-generated Smart Growth Initiative, is passing with an insurmountable lead - more than 2-1.  Measure Z, the City-generated initiative designed to fool the voters is also passing, but by a much smaller margin.

FAIRVIEW PARK ISSUES
Measure AA, the citizen-generated initiative designed to protect Fairview Park from development, is passing by an astounding margin - well beyond 2-1.  Measure BB, the City-generated measure designed to confuse the voters, is failing at the polls.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUES
Both citizen-generated Medical Marijuana sales issues - Measures V and W - are failing at the polls badly.  Measure X, the City-generated measure with no retail sales element, is passing.

VOTE-BY-DISTRICTS
This measure, hijacked by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and converted from a measure designed to enhance the voting opportunities for the Costa Mesa Latino community into one that actually dilutes that opportunity, is passing by more than a 2-1 margin.  This measure is for 6 voting districts and a directly-elected mayor - a scheme NONE of the participants in the consultants workshops wanted - not a single person preferred it.

HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF CMSD BY MESA WATER
This meaningless advisoery measure, which has no power at all, was foisted upon the voters by the Board of the Mesa Water District in an attempt to sway the voters into even considering the consolidation (takeover) of Mesa Water and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District.  It is passing.

COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
All incumbents in these races are soundly thumping their challengers

NEWPORT MESA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
All incumbents in these three races are winning soundly.  The old guard prevails.

74TH STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
Matt Harper has crushed Karina Onofre.

37TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT
John Moorlach has whipped Ari Grayson.

48TH UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE
Dana Rohrabacher has prevailed over challenger Dr. Suzanne Savary.

WHAT'S LEFT TO COUNT?
Estimate of Ballots Left to Count - 1,648
Vote-by-Mail Ballots Left to Count - 28
Vote-by-Mail Ballots Returned at the Polls Left to Count - 63
Provisionals Left to Count - 1,557
Election Day Paper Ballots Left to Count - 0
Eligible Vote-by-Mail Ballots Received After Election Day Left to Count - 0

'TAINT QUITE OVER... BUT VERY, VERY CLOSE

The Registrar of Voters team will count Saturday, but no word about Sunday.  With so few votes remaining to count, it looks like it's over, but I'm going to wait until the bitter end to affirm that fact - after Neal Kelley certifies the races.  The next report is tomorrow night.  Stay tuned.

A Third Of The OC Votes Remain Uncounted

REGISTRAR AND STAFF ARE HARD AT WORK
Today, while most of us pause to honor our veterans on this special day, Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley and his small army of worker-bees (240 strong) continue to plow through the mountains of ballots submitted in this election cycle.

WHAT'S LEFT TO COUNT?
As I've said MANY times in the past few days, this election if FAR from over.  You can go to the "What's Left To Count" page, HERE, for real-time numbers.  Let me summarize it for you as of 10:00 a.m. Friday.

• Estimates of Ballots Left To Count - 411,049
• Vote-by-Mail Ballots Left to Count - 85,791
• Provisionals Left To Count - 108,000
• Vote-by-Mail Ballots Returned at the Polls Left to Count - 184,174
• Election Day Paper Ballots Left To Count - 22,500
• Eligible Vote-by-Mail Ballots Received After Election Day Left To Count - 10,584

That first number has gone up as the mail is delivered and it is anticipated that it will continue to rise today and tomorrow.

STILL RETRIEVING THE MAIL
I'm told by representatives of the Registrar of Voters office that they are working hard today and will do so through the weekend.  Although there is no mail delivery today the ROV has made arrangements to go to the Post Office and retrieve all mail awaiting delivery.

DAILY UPDATES PLANNED
I'm also told that there continues to be a plan to provide daily updates at 5:00 p.m. each day, but that there may be no update on Sunday.

COULD TAKE THE FULL MONTH TO CERTIFY
I'm also told that, due to the tremendous volume of ballots turned in this cycle, it may take two more weeks to complete the counting and certify the results.  They are required to complete this work within 30 days of the election.  If it takes that long and the results are not certified until December 8th, then the Costa Mesa City Council results will NOT be certified until after their first meeting in December, on the 6th.

CHILL OUT!
So, dear readers, while many of you are euphoric about some of the results, please understand that nearly ONE THIRD - of the Orange County votes have NOT been counted yet.  Relax, enjoy this holiday and the weekend that follows.  Go see "Hacksaw Ridge" to give you an even greater appreciation of what some veterans have gone through so we can have the opportunity to select those who represent us in government.  Play with your kids.  Relax...

IN THE MEANTIME...
I'll keep checking and reporting.

More Controversy About Smart Growth Initiative Rebuttal

YET ANOTHER WEIRD TWIST
And yet another curious situation has arisen in the case of Eleanor Egan's lawsuit against Costa Mesa City Clerk Brenda Green and Orange County Registrar of Voters, Neal Kelley, to have segments of the rebuttal to Arguments For the Smart Growth Initiative removed because the document "is not really a rebuttal, since it does not address anything in the Argument For the initiative measure."  She goes on to say, "most of the statements contained in the Rebuttal are demonstrably false, and the rest are not capable of being proven either true or false but are misleading and inconsistent with the requirement of the Elections Code."

CO-CONSPIRATORS
The signatories on this so-called "Rebuttal" are Julie Fowler, Chuck Perry, Lee Ramos, Christopher Bunyan and Jim Righeimer.

BACKGROUND
I wrote about this issue earlier, HERE, and Luke Money wrote about it in the Daily Pilot, HERE.

WE'RE PAYING RIGHEIMER'S LEGAL FEES?!
Now comes the new twist.  Informed sources tell me that the City of Costa Mesa will be covering all legal costs incurred by Jim Righeimer in this matter!  And, further, the attorney that will represent him is Patrick Munoz, the high-priced lawyer from Rutan and Tucker - the firm that was retained to cobble together an initiative to compete with the Costa Mesa First's Smart Growth Initiative.  That certainly has the aroma of conflict of interest.

GREEN, YES... RIGHEIMER, NO!
Now, I can see where the City will represent City Clerk Brenda Green - she is simply doing her job, and Egan's beef isn't with her, nor Neal Kelley.  Her complaint is that the rebuttal is false and misleading, as stated above, and she doesn't want it to appear on the ballot.  I have no problem with Green receiving city-paid-for legal help.

NOT APPROPRIATE, AND MAYBE ILLEGAL!
I DO, however, have a problem with my tax dollars being spent to cover whatever legal costs Righeimer incurs in this venture.  He signed the rebuttal as a private citizen, not as the Mayor Pro Tem of the City.  This issue was NOT addressed by the City Council, nor were they asked to waive conflict of interest - a very likely situation.  Instead, someone high up in City government simply decided to make a gift of taxpayer dollars to Righeimer to cover his legal costs in this misguided, malicous and falacious effort.

WHO AND WHY?!
So, I want to know who made that decision and why?  What authority has been given to whom to make such a decision without council approval or even consideration?  Who decided that it's OK to spend our money to facilitate misleading the voters by placing lies on a ballot measure?  Was it CEO Tom Hatch?  Was it contract City Attorney Tom Duarte?  Just who made that decision?  And, if it's OK to cover Righeimer's legal costs, what about the other four signatories?  If they incur costs will we be paying those, too?  Quite frankly, this stinks!

City Clerk and Registrar of Voters Sued!

GOOD GRIEF!
The drama never stops in Costa Mesa!  Late last week Costa Mesa resident Eleanor Egan sued Brenda Green, Costa Mesa City Clerk, and Neal Kelley, Orange County Registrar of Voters, to have purported "objectively false and misleading information" removed from the rebuttal argument on Costa Mesa First's so-called Smart Growth Initiative.

EGAN'S LEGAL CHALLENGE
Egan, a long-time lawyer in the Costa Mesa City Attorney's office back when we actually had a City Attorney and not a contract firm handling our legal affairs, and also a Planning Commissioner not too long ago, took strong legal exception to much of the rebuttal signed by Julie Fowler, Chuck Perry, Lee Ramos, Christopher Bunyan and Jim Righeimer.

JUVENILE PONTIFICATIONS
I've read through the legal paperwork, which includes a record of those statements Egan feels are false and/or misleading and must agree with her.  In fact, it seems like that rebuttal was written as though they were writing one of those stream-of-consciousness screeds seen so often on the Costa Mesa Public Square - the juvenile pontifications encouraged by Righeimer's example.

IT'S RIGHEIMER'S FAULT
Keep in mind that Righeimer has appointed himself to write arguments on several other initiatives.  It's likely that his handiwork could result in even more legal challenges.  Since he's come to town Costa Mesa has become an annuity for lawyers.

NO TIME TO WASTE!
The clock is ticking on this process.  The case has been assigned to a judge who, as of last night, had not yet considered it.  The judge will tell the parties what they must do, or not do, quickly.  The deadline for completion of all the information for the numerous initiatives that will be placed on the ballot is August 12th.  I'll try to stay abreast of this situation and keep you informed.