Common Cause: COUNT THE VOTES IN SAN DIEGO

Dear Nadin ,

It seems simple. If a voter's intent is clear, then that voter's ballot should be counted.

In San Diego, CA, as in other parts of the country, there is an increasing demand from citizens to count every vote cast in the November 2 election. It appears that the write-in candidate for mayor of San Diego (a nonpartisan position) received more votes than each of her two opponents. However, a tremendous number of her write-in votes have been deemed not valid because, although they wrote in her name, these voters did not mark the bubble next to her name, a seemingly redundant act.

Common Cause does not endorse any candidate. But we do feel it is important that in all elections the voters' intent be honored. Disqualifying votes when the voters' intent is clear is contrary to the definition of democracy.

We invite you to participate in an outdoor rally urging San Diego to "Count All The Votes" from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., Sunday, 12/05/04, in front of Horton Plaza, near the corner of 4th St. & Broadway in downtown San Diego.

As always, please feel free to forward this email to your friends and family and urge them to join us at the rally:

To get more involved or volunteer for Common Cause's election reform related efforts in San Diego, please contact John Falchi at pacerjp14@sbcglobal.net.

Thank you for all that you do for Common Cause in California.

Sincerely,

Barbara Burt
Common Cause

Support Common Cause California





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...the mayoral election in San Diego. In the primary last March, the top 2 vote getters were Dick Murphy (the incumbent) and Ron Roberts, a county supervisor. So the Nov. election was to be a runoff between those 2. Both are white male Republicans in their 50s or 60s. Late in the campaign, Donna Frye, who is currently a city councilperson, and a liberal Democrat, announced that she was also running as a write-in candidate. She either came in first or second, depending on how you count the votes. I marked the bubble next to "Write-in" and wrote her name, which is what you are supposed to do. Some people wrote her name, but did not mark the bubble. The argument is over whether those votes should be counted for her. The city charter disagrees with the municipal code on this point. One says the bubble must be filled in for the write-in name to count, the other doesn't. The other argument going on is over whether her candidacy was legal in the first place. That argument says that the runoff could only be between the top 2 votegetters in the primary. It's all being fought out in courtrooms now. It might even end up in another election, but probably Frye would be forced off the ballot if that happens. That would also disenfranchise me because I only would have voted for Frye, I never would have voted for either Murphy or Roberts. It's a horrible mess that has dragged on for a month now with no end in sight. The power establishment of this city, which historically Republican-controlled, is secretly up in arms at the idea that a liberal Democrat could actually become Mayor and be in charge, so that is who is really fighting against Frye.

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