Final Results (pretty much) Wednesday morning:

The best news:

• Judge Joanne Motoike (right) won by a lot!
• Board of Education incumbent David Boyd beat his tea-party challenger whatsisname by a lot
• Anaheim’s Tait-punishing Measure D got trounced (thanks to Tait’s hard work – wish he would have included C)
• Props 41 and 42 prevailing easy
  
• The California GOP moving past people like Orly Taitz and Tim Donnelly, for better or worse, I’m not sure.
• Hugh Nguyen easily Clerk-Recorder so we can forget about that race.
• (see below) Matt Harper unexpectedly made #2 in his Assembly race;  he will not be beating Keith Curry in November, but he CAN now be replaced on the Huntington Beach City Council.
  
• Slim pickings, I know.

The worst news:

• Big-money Charter-school matron Linda Lindholm taking over Board of Education, creating a majority that will do damage.
• Diamond at only 27.3% when we were hoping for at least 40.
• Anaheim’s kleptocratic Measure C passing 2 to 1 (and the corgis must get used to fireworks)..
• We MIGHT have to choose between two Republicans for Controller, although the mediocre Dem John Perez is barely at #2 right now.
• Supe 2 – Moreno behind Mansoor by a bit, but probably too much to make up.
• Judge Derek “Shredded” Johnson trouncing Helen Hayden, and Jeff Ferguson trouncing Carmen Luege.
• Solorio was very weak against Janet.
  

The two-way races to get used to:

• Governor:  Brown (D) vs. Kashkari (R)
  
• Lite Guv:  Newsom (D) vs. Nehring (R)
  
• SoS:  Padilla (D) vs. Peterson (R)
• Treasurer:  Chiang (D) vs. Conlon (R)
• AG:  Kamala Harris (D) vs. Ronald Gold (R)
• Insurance:  Dave Jones (D) vs. Ted Gaines (R)
• Education:  Torlakson vs. Tuck
• (Controller race still very close 4 ways;  only Swearengin [R] for sure)
• Board of Equalization:  Shahatit (D) vs. Harkey (R)
• Supervisor 2:  Steel (R) vs. Mansoor (R)  unless Moreno (D) somehow makes up a little over 1000 votes.
• Supervisor 5:  Ming (R) vs. Bartlett (R)
• Assessor:  Guillory vs. Parrish
• Congress 45:  Mimi Walters (R) vs. Drew Leavens (D)  [sorry Greg Raths]
• Congress 46:  Loretta (D) vs. Adam Nick (R)
• Congress 48:  Rohrabacher (R) vs. Savary (D) [sorry Wendy]
• Assembly 69:  Tom Daly (D) vs. Sherry Walker (R) [sorry Ceci – I thought this was a latino district???]
• Assembly 72:  Travis (R) vs. Joel Block (D)
• Assembly 73:  Gabriella (D) vs. Bill Brough of all people!  (R)
• Assembly 74:  Curry (R) vs. Harper of all people!  (R)  Congratulation HB, you are rid of Poseidon’s Welcome Matt.  Who will we replace him with on council?  (I know, but am I supposed to say yet?)  And sarcastic thanks to Karina and crowd for sinking Anila.  (Using Patrascu money – D’oh – you ALL went down!)
• UPDATE Thursday – Supe 5 – Pat Bates (R) vs. Gary Kephart (D) after a successful write-in campaign by Gary!
  

10:10. STATEWIDE, 20% is reporting. Kashkari’s still ahead of Donnelly – whichever way that goes some Republicans will be relieved, some will be enraged. Orly was a pipe dream; the Republican AG candidate will be Gold or maybe Wyman. For controller, Betty Yee is a little ahead of John Perez, which makes us happy, but that could change.  I think we can say that both Prop 41 and 42 will pass pretty easily.

9:30. Finally got to Jim Moreno’s thing. About 20 Democrats here. Retired DPOC head Frank Barbaro left as soon as I walked in. Perhaps a coincidence. We said hello, but as he left I muttered “endorsed Rackauckas.”

A certain number of precincts are reporting finally, depending where you’re looking in the county. I think it’s safe that if races are 70-30 at this point to call them.

So I’m happy to say that:

• In the Board of Education race, David Boyd is WAY ahead of Tea-partyin’  Tom Pollitt.
• Judge Motoike looks like she’s gonna win easy!
• Hugh Nguyen is walking away with his Clerk-Recorder job.

And I’m sorry to say that:

• Janet Nguyen is way ahead of Solorio (although they’ll still both go on to November)
• Derek “Shredded” Johnson is kicking our friend Helen Hayden’s ass, and Ferguson is beating Carmen Luege.
• Diamond’s still down at 27% against T-Rack
• Assessor / whistleblower Jorge Lopez has no chance at all.
• Anaheim’s sneaky Measure C and deafening Measure E are both winning pretty handily so far…

And nailbiters will be:

• Liz Dorn Parker, who’s still a little behind the well-funded Linda Lindholm
• Anaheim’s Measure D, which is losing by JUST A LITTLE…
• Will Moreno or Mansoor go on to fight Michelle Steel?  Still too close to call…

8:20.  My friends Ryan and Cynthia are freaking out because C is kicking ass and D is neck and neck.  I tell them, guys, ZERO PRECINCTS ARE REPORTING IN OC YET.  I’m not even gonna pass along anything here from OC until a LOT of precincts are reporting.  Statewide, we’ve got about 5% of precincts reporting, and I can say that Orly is way behind, next to last;  and Yee is a little ahead of Perez which is nice.  Kash-and-Karry is a little ahead of crazy Donnelly.  But it’s too early to even predict that. 

7pm.  No precincts reporting yet.  Greg Diamond is “confidently” predicting 34.8% for himself.  We wish he would be cockier.  Me and Ryan are holding out for 40%.  I don’t think he counted Zenger. I’ll be back when some precincts report. Or something else trippy happens.

6PM. I turn in my ballot at Hotel Huntington Beach.  They tell me “We’ve been busy,” but it doesn’t really look like they have.  Not many people there, and only a couple signatures on each sheet.  The good news is there are now at least three more Corgi votes – Maggie for OC Sheriff, Sarah for OC Treasurer, and the Governor’s own dog Sutter for HIS job.  (He did think Sutter was smart enough to debate Grover Norquist, remember?

Probably time to check in with the Registrar website pretty soon… Will be heading to Jim Moreno’s election-watching event at the IAMAW District Lodge, 5402 Bolsa Ave., Huntington Beach, 7:30.

**************

2:30 pm. Here’s an interesting development. West Anaheim resident Connor Traut (Yeah, I know, “WHO or WHAT is a CONNOR TRAUT?” No, they are NOT found “entrained” in Poseidon’s “infiltration galleries.” He is an ambitious young Anaheim Democrat, a friend of Jordan Brandman albeit much bolder in his liberalism than Jordan, and has been shaking things up on the pro-gay and pro-immigrant fronts, things Jordan would never do on his own.)

ANYWAY. Connor announced a couple of hours ago that he’d shown up to vote at his West Anaheim polling place and was denied a ballot without showing ID. I called the young man for more details. Turns out, he was asked for his ID there, which of course you’re not supposed to be, and even though he had one he told them he didn’t, and they wouldn’t let him vote. He asked if anyone else was denied a ballot without showing an ID, and was told five others so far.

So he called up Jordan, who got in touch with the registrar, and they read the riot act to these workers, and contacted the rejected voters who were asked to come back and vote – huge inconvenience at the least, I would think.  Now these particular West Anaheim poll workers are “properly trained,” praise the Lord!

Some white areas of West Anaheim are known for their anti-Latino, anti-immigrant bias.  I asked Connor if the other ID-less rejects were Latino, and he wasn’t sure.  He did wait around to see ONE rejected lady return, and she was black.  And who shows up on Connor’s facebook thread to say “If I need to show ID to buy a gun, get on a plane, drive a car, open a bank account etc etc….then one should be required to vote. Period.”  but AMANDA EDINGER, the infamous immigrant-bashing Anaheim busybody.

Connor says “I don’t know how she saw my post, we are not Facebook friends.”  But it’s not much of a jump – she was Jordan’s appointee to the districting commission, remember?  Two degrees of Amanda Edinger.  In any case, good looking out, Connor, and I hope this isn’t happening in more places!

***************

Circa 1pm. Friends working at various polling places in the county confirm the expected LOW TURNOUT.

The Voice of OC has an interesting piece on today’s election, written by both Norberto and Adam together. They hit a couple of angles we hadn’t thought of. An overarching theme of different factions of the OC Republican Party fighting it out. The most important issue between Michelle Steel and Allan Mansoor is Michelle’s backing by county Sherrifs versus Allan’s stern opposition to a raise for those workers.

One other important thing that had escaped our attention was the centrality of the Dana Point revitalization effort to the 5th supervisorial race, with OCBC candidate Frank Ury favoring a continuation of County involvement there, vs Lincoln Club-backed Robert Ming’s more libertarian allergy to government involvement.  So let’s add that to the list of races we’ll be looking at with mild interest.

And like us, the Voice can’t get enough of the great and enigmatic Tait.

****************

8:57 AM. History is made. Zenger votes for Diamond (in a final spasm of anti-Rackauckas disgust)… and also votes for Maggie the Corgi (for 4th District Supervisor.  See comments below.)

Candidates such as this one are seeking your votes in today’s extremely low-turnout election! DO NOT DISAPPOINT THEM! Forecasts are that as few as 17 people may vote in all of Orange County — so be one of them!

These are the races we’ll be checking on today, in rough order of importance/hopefulness.  Keep coming back today with OCD.  The newest entries will be at the TOP.

• OC Board of Education – Will either or both the crazy challengers – teabagging home-schooler Tom Pollitt and/or charter-school-funded career politician Linda Lindholm – sneak onto the Board and take our county for a Wild Ride the next two years?
• Will Anaheim voters see through the kleptocrats’ attempt to weaken their charter, and reject C, D & E?
• Supe District 2 – will the race be Steel-Moreno?  Steel-Mansoor?  Moreno-Mansoor?
• DA – how will our Diamond fare against T-Rack?
• Judges – how will our pal Helen Hayden fare against scary Judge Derek “Shredded” Johnson?  And will our other favored candidates – Motoike, Luege, and KC Jones – make it?
• Assessor – how will our favorite Assessing Whistle-blower Jorge Lopez fare against longtime hinky incumbent Guillory, and GOP powerhouse Claude Parrish?
• CD48 – will the race be Rohrabacher vs Savary or Rohrabacher vs Leece?
• Board of Equalization – will the race be Harkey vs Shahatit or Harkey vs Tran?
• AD 73 – will it be Petrilla-Gabriella (which we’re rooting for) or Bryson-Gabriella?  Or Bryson-Petrilla?
• AD 74 – will it be Ali-Curry?  Onofre-Curry?  Patrascu-Curry?  Or will HB Harper haters pull a fast one on us all and make it Harper-Curry?
• AG – Will our crazy buddy Orly Taitz beat out the other 6 unknown righties and become the girl to take on Kamala?  And if so, will she take the opportunity to talk about medical marijuana and the militarization of our police, or revert to her old birtherism and immigrant-bashing that thrills her small base?
• State Controller – we love Betty Yee – will the race be Yee-Swearingen, Perez-Swearingen, or Yee-Perez?
• CD 45 – who will get to face off with Schemin’ Mimi – honest Dem Drew Leavens or honest Reep Greg Raths?
• SD 34 – we know it will be Democrat Jose Solorio facing off against corrupt Republican Janet Nguyen.  But, will Jose get more votes than Janet today (partly thanks to Long Pham?)  That would be nice to see, psychologically!
• Clerk-Recorder.  Will our friend Hugh Nguyen break 50% today, so we can forget about this stupid office for 4 years?
  

And how will turnout be today? Does anyone know there’s an election? Will Democrat voters continue to be lame-asses who only show up when there’s a shiny Presidential race on the teevee? Let us know what you see out there, and keep coming back!