Subject: Elections and Voting

• Who Stole the Election from the Stealers?

  As Gustavo's recent post on Hugh Hewitt suggests, even Republican diehards are beginning to surrender. That raises an important question: how will conspiracy theorists explain the stolen election that wasn't? Many on the left had warned that the GOP had everything wired--from electronic voting machines run by Diebold to election-rigging legal changes--to steal this election. What happened?

  November 7, 2006

• At the Movies

  After a corrupt Congressional electoral committee declared Republican Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 presidential election, Samuel Tilden, the Democratic candidate and the actual winner of the election, left politics and, as Gore Vidal delicately put it, "retired to private life and to the pleasures of what old-time New Yorkers used to recall, wistfully, as one of the greatest collections of pornography in the Gramercy Park area of Manhattan." One hundred and twenty-four years later,

  June 2, 2006

• Election Results

  Since the world didn't live up to the expectations of nervous Christians and end yesterday, we now have to turn our attention to counting the ballots from yesterday's primary. (Lazy goddamn Antichrist, always making more work for me...) Matt Coker's bold electoral prediction proved corrected. Assessing the state of the Republican gubernatorial primary, Matt wrote, "Schwarzennegger, in a landslide. Don't forget you read it here first."– and sure enough, Arnold walked off with 89.9% of the

  June 7, 2006

• 43 vs. 43

  On On Politics, the San Jose Mercury News' political news blog, Kate Folmar reports: An internal poll conducted by Democratic pollster Mark Mellman of The Mellman Group out of Washington, D.C. recently found that the governor's race was a dead heat, I'm told. Forty-three percent of respondents favored Treasurer Phil Angelides and another 43 percent wanted to re-elect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The remaining 14 percent were undecided. The poll of 800 concluded on June 11, after Angelides emerged

  June 20, 2006

• Early and Often

  As you listen to all the clichés in the days leading up to the November 7 election about how a week or a day is a lifetime in politics and how the only poll that matters is one that taken on election day, just remember that as of today, voting is already underway. Absentee ballots are now in the mail and early voting has begun in some counties, and voting before election day is playing an increasingly important part in California politics. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: About 47

  October 10, 2006

• Today is Voter Registration DEADLINE

  If you haven't registered to vote in the November 7 general elections, the deadline is 8 p.m. TONIGHT at the Registrar of Voters headquarters: 1300 South Grand Avenue, Building C, Santa Ana--close to the 5 and 55 freeways. More information can be found at the Registrar's brand new website, www.ocvote.com Come on: It's a painless process that takes about 45 seconds. Or you can sit on your ass and continue to let corrupt, special interests control government unchecked...

  October 23, 2006

• What Could Go Wrong

  Here in Orange County we've got every reason to fear voter fraud. There's that time back in 1988 when Tom Fuentes, then head of the OC Republican Party, authorized the use of poll guards to scare off Latinos. There's the 1996 election when Loretta Sanchez won from nut-bar Bob Dornan (now with extra nuts!), in which Dornan demanded (and Tom Fuentes encouraged) a fruitless, frivolous investigation into whether unregistered Latino voters had tipped the scales. The words "sore loser" spring to mind.

  November 4, 2006

• Down Goes Daucher

  As of half-past seven Monday night, Lou Correa has over 50% of the vote, beating opponent Lynn Daucher by 1,302 votes and winning California's 34th Senate seat. He collected more votes than opponents Daucher and Otto Bade combined, ending speculation that Bade's last-minute write-in campaign is what cost Daucher the election. Can we please stop calling him Otto the Spoiler now? This is an unpleasant turn of events for Daucher, who on Election Night was claiming victory. At the Republican's ill-

  November 20, 2006

• First District Special Election

  Since Lou Correa has been elevated to the splendor that is the state Senate, the citizens in the Board of Supervisors' First District need a new Lou, and today is the day to elect one.   The polls will be open until 8pm.  If you have any questions about the how-and-where of voting, you can call the Registrar of Voters office for answers, 714-567-7600. The weather will be fine, and crowds at the polls shouldn't be a problem.  According to the Reg, the last time there was a sp

  February 6, 2007

• The Power of Provisional Voting

  So pulling out of the casa this morning, it dawned that we'd forgotten to confirm our polling place on our sample ballot. No biggie; this neighborhood has had only three different polling places in the 14 years we've disturbed our neighbors here, and all three potential places of poll are very close to one another. Off to the first: no polling place. Number two: zippo. The third, the one where we've voted the most often in nearly every election since moving here: pound sand, Sparky. From that c

  June 6, 2006

• Provisional, Proschmivisional

  Bitching and moaning about having to cast a provisional ballot is one thing. Ladera Ranch resident Marcy Allen just ringy-dingy'd the Weekly to complain that she could not vote AT ALL! Like a good little citizen, Allen arrived at her polling place right when it opened so, like a good little employee, she could vote and still make it to work on time. But while the poll workers were pleasant and kind, Allen reports that they had no ballots. They called somebody, who called somebody, who called so

  June 6, 2006

• Ahnuld Terminates Fair Elections

  Perhaps you've seen those commercials showing Phil Angelides walking backward--the same direction the Democrat nominee for governor wants to take the state, according to the folksy narrator. These, of course, are not to be confused with Angelides' response ads, which show someone who looks a lot like The Terminator riding a motorcycle moving backwards--the same direction Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken the state, according to the folksy narrator. We don't recall who funded the anti-Arn

  July 12, 2006

• Nguyen vs. Nguyen: Janet Wins!

  Ok, so the timing sort of sucks for us, since we'd have liked to include the information in our story, but it's good news for Janet Nguyen: the California Court of Appeals ruled today, the same day our cover story hit the streets, that Janet did win her election, and therefore does get to stay in office. Last November, the Orange County Registrar ruled that Trung Nguyen, a Garden Grove school board member backed by State Assemblyman Van Thai Tran, the most powerful Vietnamese-American elected o

  January 17, 2008

• To Do Tonight - 01/22

  REGISTER TO VOTE, till midnight Today's your last chance to register to vote in the presidential primary. Doooo it! Registrar of Voters, 1300 S. Grand Ave., Santa Ana FULL MOON WALK, 5:30 p.m. Howl at the first full moon of the year, which was incidentally named the Wolf Moon by Native Americans. Environmental Nature Center, 1601 Sixteenth St. Newport Beach VIVID COMEDY PARTY, 8 p.m. Who said porn stars can't be funny? Irvine Improv, 71 Fortune Dr., Irvine SURF CITY NIGHTS, till 9 p.m. Stre

  January 22, 2008

• OC Vote update: 9 PM

  Top dogs are still the same as of 9 p.m. and only 106 of 2076 precincts are accounted for. It's gonna be a loooong night! Democrats:Hillary ClintonBarack ObamaVote Count: 52,854Vote Count: 25,543 58.5(.3% Republicans:John McCainMitt Romney Vote Count: 56,800Vote Count: 38778 42.1(.7%More here.

  February 5, 2008

• OC Vote update: 10 PM

  Slowly moving. But CNN's already called California for Clinton. Democrats:Hillary ClintonBarack ObamaVote Count: 53,881Vote Count: 26,297 58.5(.5% Republicans:John McCainMitt Romney Vote Count: 57,378Vote Count: 39,481 42.0(.9%

  February 5, 2008

• OC Vote update: 11 PM

  Democrats:Hillary ClintonBarack ObamaVote Count: 81,233Vote Count: 46,911 57.33.1% Republicans:John McCainMitt Romney Vote Count: 75,393Vote Count: 60,108 41.02.7%

  February 5, 2008

• OC Vote: Final count

  Well, the votes from all 2076 precincts have been tallied. No huge surprises, but here are the final numbers in the presidential race: Democrats:Hillary ClintonBarack ObamaVote Count: 141,668Vote Count: 96,967 55.47.9% Republicans:John McCainMitt Romney Vote Count: 117,333Vote Count: 109,877 39.77.2%

  February 6, 2008

• No on Prop 8 public service announcement

  Weekly contributing writer Dave Barton and his friend Greg Adkins directed and edited this moving No on Prop 8 clip, currently making the rounds of YouTube and even the Daily Kos. The lines being read are from 1 Corinthians. And of course you already knew that Proposition 8 is the November religious-fundie ballot measure that seeks to ban re-ban gay marriage in California...

  September 29, 2008

• Obama Wins Presidential Election Thanks to Baby Hewie!

  The New York Observer is reporting that Orange County conservative yackmouth Hugh Hewitt unsuccessfully tried to sell a book proposal involving Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin. We'd usually laugh at any Baby Hewie gaffe--the proposed title was How Sarah Palin Won the Election ... and Saved America, and ain't that a bit pompous?--except that his failure means hope for Democrats, as his infatuation with Palin might have provoked the Hugh Hewitt curse. Don't know about it? Read our w

  October 10, 2008

• Proposition 2 Opponents Use Pete Wilson Card for Their Tricks

  Amazingly, both parties have ignored Mexicans in this election. So leave it to the animal-abusing geniuses behind the No on Proposition 2 campaign (y'know, that nefarious measure that would force farmers to treat their animals humanely) to conjure up the spectre of the Reconquista in this ominous ad. Dig the long lines! And it's not the first time Prop. 2 opponents have bagged on Mexico:

  October 28, 2008

• Election Night Music in OC/LB

  Sure, it's fun to sit at home on election night and watch the results come in. I mean, think of all the great moments: Russert with the whiteboard, Florida "erroneously" being called for Gore, and, uh, other things that happened in years other than 2000. But what if you could watch these things - and listen to live music at the same time? Oh yes, it's possible. Here are some election night music events going down tomorrow.

  November 3, 2008

• Hugh Hewitt Makes Robocalls for Prop. 8

  Got my dinner ruined yesterday when local blabbermouth Hugh Hewitt called me--or, rather, his recorded voice. He was urging me to vote yes on Proposition 8. Given the Baby Hughie curse, it gives me hope that this sexual Know Nothing initiative might go down. On his blog, Hewitt seems to be admitting defeat. Remember how Republicans laughed at those libs who threatened to leave the United States after the 2004 election? Baby Hughie links to a David Brooks story about the coming new change (cross

  November 4, 2008

• Harvey Milk: the Man, the Movie, and Orange County

  This past Tuesday night at the Edwards South Coast Village in Santa Ana, and an Orange County Film Society-sponsored advance screening of the new Gus Van Zant-directed, Sean Penn-starring Harvey Milk biopic, simply titled Milk. Go ahead and Google the name if you must -- it's not like Harvey's story is getting taught in public schools -- but some background info is in order here. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to win an elected office in the United States, a seat on the San Franc

  November 21, 2008

• Prop. 8 Backers to Local, State Politicos: Butt Out and Get Back to Work!

  Local and statewide proponents of Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban approved by voters last November, have a message for local and statewide politicians: stop trying to overturn the election results and get back to work fixing your cities and/or California.State senators and Assembly members "are authoring meaningless nonbinding resolutions that take up the time of legislators and legislative staff who should be focused on appropriate legislative priorities such as solving the state defic

  February 18, 2009

• Iowa Gay Marriage Ruling Means Everything or Nothing

  The Iowa Supreme Court's overturning of the law banning same-sex marriage in that state either bolsters the arguments of those pushing for gay marriage in California or has nothing to do with the issue here. It depends on who you ask.National Center for Lesbian Rights legal director Shannon Minter:"The fact that two state supreme courts--including now a court in the heartland of our country--have now followed the California Supreme Court's holding on that issue underscores very powerfully that t

  April 3, 2009

• Allen Raymond's 'How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative' Entertaining, Flawed

  May 15, 2008

• Tom Fuentes,

  March 31, 2005

• O, America . . .

  Reflections on Election Day, 2004

  November 4, 2004

• Pussies Galore!

  July 29, 2004

• The War on One Bank Plaza

  April 15, 2004

• 0 for 6

  February 19, 2004

• Fieldstoned

  November 6, 2003

• Rage Against the Voting Machine

  December 19, 2002

• The Most Serious Election Crisis Ever!

  November 23, 2000

• Shut Em Down!

  April 20, 2000

• You Are Surrounded by Idjits, Mostly

  March 16, 2000

• Sodomized

  September 9, 1999

• Live Like a God!

  April 29, 1999

• 'Jeeeeeezuz Christ!'

  November 12, 1998

• Sanchez vs. Dornan

  October 15, 1998

• How Bob Dornan Turned Political Defeat into a Windfall for his Family

  August 27, 1998

• The Loser Wins

  August 27, 1998

• Yes! Dornan is Completely Nuts!

  March 6, 1997

• The Sore-Losers Club

  January 23, 1997

• The Mexican No-Show Show

  January 9, 1997

• The Painful Truth

  November 28, 1996

• LGBT Groups Seek to Intervene in Prop. 8 Challenge

  This just in from the ACLU, which believes the action taken today will help a judge hearing a challenge of Prop. 8 understand the unequal rights inherent in the ballot initiative . . . SAN FRANCISCO -- Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today asked the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to allow Our Family Coalition, Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays to intervene in Pe

  July 8, 2009

• Proposition 8 Is Keeping Same-Sex Couples From Marrying, But It Has United OC's Gay Community

  November 19, 2009

• What Does the Mayan Calendar Say About Three H's Running for OC Sheriff?

  Sheriff Craig Hunter?​Hang onto your seats, disaster lovers! The dynamics of the 2010 race for Orange County sheriff changed this week with the candidacy of Craig Hunter, second in command at the Anaheim Police Department. No need to consult your astrological chart or the Mayan calendar for a deep meaning regarding the three H's running--Hunter, Hunt and Hutchens. The race is now ripe for brutal campaign combat. Here's why: As it stands, incumbent but electoral-untested Sandra Hutchens 

  November 20, 2009