Officials Warn of Turmoil on Election Night
As the list of candidates seeking to replace Gov. Gray Davis grew to nearly 200 names, officials warned Sunday of election night gridlock, with the outcome likely to be unclear days after the Oct. 7 vote.
Officials in Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's office said they were still trying to determine what the recall will cost. Last week, Shelley had estimated the price at $53 million to $66 million, a figure that may now rise in light of the large number of candidates on the ballot.
In some counties with paper-based voting systems, such as Contra Costa and Sonoma, the large number of candidates will require three or more cards, making it necessary for the ballots to be read by hand to ensure each voter did not choose more than one alternative to Davis, election officials said.
Steve Weir, Contra Costa County's registrar of voters, said results in his county would not be ready until "maybe ... about 5 p.m. Thursday [Oct. 9]," two days after the polls close.
And stupid me - worrying that the recall was going to cost us $25 million and the vote would be divided among 8 or 9 candidates.
I bet Arnold's displeased "Schwarzenegger" in the latter part of the alphabet...folks will have to sift past Angelyne, Larry Flynt, Mary Carey, Gary Coleman and just about everyone else before they reach his name.
Seriously, though - the horrible truth is that many people don't research the sample ballots they get in the mail with their polling place's address. Yup. Aunt Matilda and Uncle Possum are going to go into the booth October 7th and see the list of candidates FOR THE FIRST TIME. It could take years for them to pore over the ballot at the polling place. If the polls don't stay open until 9:00 the next morning, a lot of voters are going to be screwed.
On the other hand, it's believed the turnout will be much smaller than last November's when Davis won the election. There's a freakin' comfort.
