Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Three Days Later, San Diego County Ballots Remain Uncounted

Even though the 2012 general election was held almost a week ago, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters office — as of 5:30 p.m. on Friday, November 9 — still had not counted 27 percent of the total ballots cast. The remaining 325,000 ballots are mail-in (absentee) or provisional ballots.

While county officials up and down the state touted this year's increased use of mail-in ballots, the high voter turnout created an unexpected backlog in tallying last Tuesday's count.

At least five area races are still in play, waiting for the final ballots to be counted. Contests in the third district county supervisorial race, Brian Bilbray's 52nd congressional district, and one seat on the Vista City Council each had less than one-half of a percentage point separating the possible winning candidates on November 9.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Two increased tax measures that would raise almost half a billion dollars each for both San Dieguito High School and MiraCosta College districts are currently failing — but by slim margins.

About 100,000 of the remaining uncounted votes are provisional ballots, which are used by voters who show up at the wrong polling place; when registrar records indicate a voter has moved or is no longer registered; or when a voter has ordered an absentee ballot but shows up to vote anyway.

Unlike the 800,000 paper ballots cast countywide on election day (which are quickly scanned and reported within a few hours of the polls closing), each absentee/provisional ballot must have the voter's signature verified and reconciled to see if the vote will count.

Registrar of Voters Deborah Seiler said she expects her staff to be able to count about 30,000 absentee/provisional ballots per day. Her staff will be working through the weekend. She pointed out that the registrar does not judge any race as too close to call or predict the possibility of a changing tally. “The media does that; we only report the vote totals,” Seiler said.

If a race ends up very close, it would be up to an individual candidate or campaign to request a vote recount. County registrars have a December 4 deadline to certify elections as final and accurate to the Secretary of State.

This reporter remembers well how vote tallies can change. In 1984, I ran for a seat on the San Dieguito Water District. I went to bed on election night a winner, by 234 votes; by the time all the votes were counted, I lost by 8. (I did not ask for a recount.)

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
Next Article

Live Five: Sitting On Stacy, Matte Blvck, Think X, Hendrix Celebration, Coriander

Alt-ska, dark electro-pop, tributes, and coastal rock in Solana Beach, Little Italy, Pacific Beach

Even though the 2012 general election was held almost a week ago, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters office — as of 5:30 p.m. on Friday, November 9 — still had not counted 27 percent of the total ballots cast. The remaining 325,000 ballots are mail-in (absentee) or provisional ballots.

While county officials up and down the state touted this year's increased use of mail-in ballots, the high voter turnout created an unexpected backlog in tallying last Tuesday's count.

At least five area races are still in play, waiting for the final ballots to be counted. Contests in the third district county supervisorial race, Brian Bilbray's 52nd congressional district, and one seat on the Vista City Council each had less than one-half of a percentage point separating the possible winning candidates on November 9.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Two increased tax measures that would raise almost half a billion dollars each for both San Dieguito High School and MiraCosta College districts are currently failing — but by slim margins.

About 100,000 of the remaining uncounted votes are provisional ballots, which are used by voters who show up at the wrong polling place; when registrar records indicate a voter has moved or is no longer registered; or when a voter has ordered an absentee ballot but shows up to vote anyway.

Unlike the 800,000 paper ballots cast countywide on election day (which are quickly scanned and reported within a few hours of the polls closing), each absentee/provisional ballot must have the voter's signature verified and reconciled to see if the vote will count.

Registrar of Voters Deborah Seiler said she expects her staff to be able to count about 30,000 absentee/provisional ballots per day. Her staff will be working through the weekend. She pointed out that the registrar does not judge any race as too close to call or predict the possibility of a changing tally. “The media does that; we only report the vote totals,” Seiler said.

If a race ends up very close, it would be up to an individual candidate or campaign to request a vote recount. County registrars have a December 4 deadline to certify elections as final and accurate to the Secretary of State.

This reporter remembers well how vote tallies can change. In 1984, I ran for a seat on the San Dieguito Water District. I went to bed on election night a winner, by 234 votes; by the time all the votes were counted, I lost by 8. (I did not ask for a recount.)

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
Next Article

Raging Cider & Mead celebrates nine years

Company wants to bring America back to its apple-tree roots
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader