The Heavy Voter Turn Out - Unh Hunh

Discussion
1

Dear All;

I finished voting at 5:30 and a whole 47 people had voted. At that rate by 8 o'clock maybe as many as 60 will have voted. Which is a massive 8% turnout for the precinct. Whooo Hooo.

Ron Getty
Hostis Res Publica
Morte Ai Tiranni
Dum Spiro, Pugno

2

I just voted, and was voter #183 -- but my polling place was serving two precincts instead of the usual one. Since it's almost 8pm, they may not hit 200 voters. One of the poll workers told me the last presidential election was over 500 voters for a single precinct.

  I'm a little concerned about the way Prop. B, which would remove the limitation on the number of supervisorial aides, was worded on the actual ballots. It almost appears to say its effect would be the opposite of what it actually is, and I fear that in a very light turnout, the votes of city insiders inclined to support the expansion of government, combined with the votes of those confused by the wording, could swing the outcome.

Love & Liberty,
        ((( starchild )))

3

There was no one but me at the precinct. Then I went to see a client and happened to park in front of his neighborhood's precinct; nobody there either.

Marcy

4

According to these results, my fears about Prop. B may have been realized:

From http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/sf/prop/:

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5

Do those numbers include the Permanent Absentee Voters (or whatever we're called now)? Since I always know how I'm going to vote at least a week out, I signed up to always have my ballot mailed to me. I wonder what percentage of voters in SF do the same. With such low in-person turnouts, it's highly likely that absentee ballots were the majority this year. Which state is it that only does mailed ballots now?

6

Rob,

  Not sure whether the voting numbers include absentees; I was wondering the same thing. I understand Oregon only votes by mail ballot. Not sure whether that's the only state. My feeling is that it's better to vote in person, and that we should discourage the practice of absentee balloting and personally avoid it except as necessary. Voting by mail gives the authorities more opportunity to rig the vote, since more ballots remain in their hands for a longer period of time prior to the election.

Love & Liberty,
        ((( starchild )))