Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Remaining Ballots And Other Stuff

NOBODY KNOWS...
I spoke with Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley this morning on the subject of remaining ballots to be counted, to clear up the myth that he, or anyone else, knows how many Costa Mesa ballots remain.  He confirmed, as reported last night, that there were just over 28,000 total ballots left to count beginning this morning.  Most of these are provisional ballots,  the ones that take the longest - verification, clarification, etc.  He does NOT know - nor does anyone else know -  how many of those are Costa Mesa ballots.  Anyone who tells you they know is just blowing smoke. 

CERTIFIED BY EARLY NEXT WEEK
Kelley hopes to have all ballots counted and the elections certified by Monday or Tuesday of next week.  From that point there is a five-calendar-day window for anyone to request a recount in a specific race.  It's cash on the barrel head to begin, at a daily rate yet to be determined.  History shows us that recounts result in very few changes - if any.  Kelley and his crew do a good job the first time around.

FIREWORKS
It looks like both Huntington Beach and Villa Park will be selling "safe and sane" fireworks next year.  Both cities had ballot measures that passed with around 60% of the voters in favor of fireworks.

YORBA LINDA REJECTS COUNCIL BENEFITS AND PENSIONS
One of the more interesting ballot measures this time around was Measure JJ in Yorba Linda.  Seems they are trying to make a statement about pensions, so the voters overwhelmingly - almost 86% - voted to deny health care and pension benefits to future City Council members.  Granted, this is a drop in the bucket of their over $70 million pension liability, but it does make a statement.  Funny, we don't hear that here in Costa Mesa, do we?  Nope, it's all about those "greedy union thugs" that work for us, keeping us safe and providing us with essential services. 

SEVEN HOURS TO GO...
So, we have just about seven hours remaining until the next tally report at 5 p.m. today.  Find something productive to do in the meantime....

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5 Comments:

Blogger Honeyman said...

What do you think the number would have to be for the loser to ask for a recount? Would Riggy's number be more generous since every developer west of Mississippi would step up to pay?

This has taken years off my life.

11/12/2014 10:32:00 AM  
Blogger The Pot Stirrer said...

Honeyman, if there are only a few different - like now, for example - it might be worthwhile. Typically, a recount doesn't shift more than a couple of votes. And, it's expensive. Of course, Righeimer would just pay for it out of his campaign warchest - somebody else's money.

11/12/2014 10:55:00 AM  
Anonymous Arthur Nern said...

Riggy tells his out of town contributors that he's demanding a recount:

http://tinyurl.com/lw6v69h

11/12/2014 02:08:00 PM  
Anonymous Casual Viewer said...

Speaking of pensions and benefits for council members, didn't a council member who owns a bar propose lifetime benefits for all employees after 10 years of service a more than a few years back? And doesn't he have 10 years on the council? Is that policy still in effect? Just sayin'.

11/12/2014 02:15:00 PM  
Anonymous Where's My Coffee? said...

Yes. Clearly Monahan is only on the council for the benefits and insurance. And he did propose pensions. He only puts in appearances as needed by the other two guys as a third vote. He has to, as Rohrbacher is renting the upstairs of the bar in order to keep it afloat. Monahan owes them big time.

Can you spell HYPOCRIT?

11/13/2014 07:27:00 AM  

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