February 04, 2008
Cue The Groans
So much for having a hard delegate count on Super Tuesday, we're hearing that CA Dems won't have final delegate tally ready until Friday.
(Amy Walter)
Posted at 05:38 PM
Comments
Why is this so surprising? California voters have been able to vote by mail since mid-January, I think. According to the Secretary of State, some of these ballots aren't mailed back in but are handed in on Election Day either to a polling place or elections office. Those are the last ballots to be reported because they require the extra handling of checking the voter’s signature, and ensuring that the voter did not also vote at the polling place. They are not likely to be reported in the vote totals until after the Election Day.
Is it so much work to look something like this up?
corinne | 02.04.08 08:45 PM
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While it should be easy after tonight to get a close delegate count, a number of other issues are happening in California. Due to the Secretary of State decertifying many electronic machines (and I, like many, thing that was a good thing) - San Francisco for example has stated that they will be doing a hand count of ALL of their ballots.
Also, in California, decline to state voters can request a Democratic ballot. But in Los Angeles, if they don't first mark box 6 (indicating they are a decline to state voting for a Democratic Presidential candidate) as well as their choice for President, their vote WILL NOT COUNT. That is the current view of the LA registrar, and depending on how many ballots they reject, there may be a lawsuit to force LA to count all of the ballots (ie, go with voter intent).
Lastly, Democratic delegates are proportionately apportioned to any candidates that get over 15% in a congressional district, as well as spliting a statewide pool of delegates that are likewise proportionately split up. As we continue to get numbers in (not only regular polls, but late absentee and provisional ballots), a few districts may keep flipping in delegate counts. Each CD gets between 3 and 6 delegates - so you can see, close numbers may in a 6 delegate CD keep flipping between a 3/3 split and a 4/2 split.
Hermit9 | 02.05.08 01:30 PM
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