No hanging chads here in Orange County, at least.
Today (Thursday June 14) is probably the last day of the canvass of votes in Orange County’s June 5 primary elections. That doesn’t mean that it’s the end of vote counting, however. Take a look at that picture to the right. You know what I’m talking about.
(Story updated Thurs. 8:15 a.m.)
“Within half a percent” is often the guideline in choosing to go ahead with a recount. In AD-69, about 12,000 votes will have been cast for either Joe Moreno or Julio Perez, discounting Tom Daly and the two also-rans. Half a percent of 12,000 would be 60 votes. If Perez ends up within 60 votes of Moreno, I don’t think that his supporters think twice before funding a recount. In fact, if Perez ends up three times that many votes behind, maybe they think twice, but I think that they go ahead with it. The stakes are that high — and the prospect that some sort of cock-up might be discovered that reverses the result is not that low.
In AD-72, 38,000 or so votes will have been cast for the second-through-fourth place candidates Travis Allen, Joe Dovinh, and Long Pham. Half a percent there is close to 200. I don’t think that Joe Dovinh will be able to afford a recount, but if Long Pham gains ground on Travis Allen, he might spring for one. (Otherwise, this seat might be out of his grasp for as much six years — or now after Prop 28 I guess that that may become twelve!) Unfortunately for both of the Vietnamese candidates, yesterday the election shifted in Allen’s favor for the second day in a row.
Here are the numbers of the day, supposedly for ballots counted between 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday and 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday:
In AD-69, Julio Perez continued to pick up ground on Moreno, but not quickly enough as the number of uncounted ballots begins to run out.
Tom Daly picked up 138 votes by Wednesday afternoon’s announcement, Moreno 90, and Perez 209. (Martinez and Barragan had 115 and 11, but neither remains in the ballgame.) Daly was down over 50 from his Tuesday total; Perez was down 25 and Moreno down 20. If Perez had three more days like this he would probably pull ahead of Moreno; unfortunately for him, he probably only has one left. The margin now stands at 284.
In AD-72, the biggest new story is that Pham has already almost caught up to Dovinh; he is now only 28 votes out of third place. However the bigger — not so new — story is that Allen remains 400 votes ahead of Pham, with time running out. I don’t know whether we had the same slew of Vietnamese voters’ ballot challenges, which might help Pham and/or Dovinh, on Wednesday that we did on Tuesday; if so, there’s still some chance that both could advance. On the other hand, if Allen’s votes got challenged by Team Edgar and haven’t been added to yesterday’s total, then there’s not much hope left for anyone else.
It ain’t over until it’s over, but in both races the likelihood of significant change in the top two just got more remote.
The Democrats won’t spend a dime to help Joe DoVinh – Hung out to dry.
They won’t need to. I don’t think that Long Pham is going to let this result stand — and Dovinh would benefit from the same recount.
My sense is that most — not all, but most — Democrats who have taken a position on the AD-72 race have wanted to see him win. But if he does not, then so long as the resulting Republican race is expensive and destructive, Dems would take some comfort in it.
No help for Joe DoVinh from the Democrats. Looks like they don’t care about having a Democrat on the ballot in AD72 and already gave up to the Republicans.
Well, now it is too late, unless there’s a very expensive recount, in which case Long Pham (who is breathing down Joe’s neck) can pay for it. It’s not quite close enough to justify a recount without a strong expectation of significant shifts. If there’s criticism to make of the party, it’s due to is relative inaction in AD-72 beforehand, and I’ll let others defend that.
I’m a Democrat within the county party (for which I do not speak) and I was there at the ROV’s office helping Dovinh as well as Perez; there just wasn’t ultimately that much to do. Neal Kelley was doing his job of rejecting spurious objections well.