With up to 200 candidates signed up for California’s wild gubernatorial recall race, officials spent Monday trying to figure out just how to make the election happen.
With the unprecedented vote less than 60 days away, California elections officials are in uncharted waters and confronting a host of unparalleled problems.
Among them: How to get so many names on a ballot without confusing voters, how to pass out sample ballots in a such a short amount of time, and how to quickly tally votes for so many candidates.
Compounding the problems is that at least three different types of voting systems are used in California, and some can’t handle more than 100 candidates on a ballot very well.
Worse yet, some counties are caught as they try to replace older systems.
“This is a train that’s going to hit an ugly wall if somebody doesn’t stop it,” said Montery County Registar of Voters Tony Anchundo, who has asked Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to seek a court order postponing the election Oct. 7. That’s not likely.
In the latest spectacle in the unusual election, officials from Shelley’s office drew letters in a bingo-style drawing Monday to determine the order candidates will appear on the recall ballots. The alphabetical order will be rotated among the state’s 80 assembly districts for fairness.
But before anybody can vote, state and local elections officials have to organize the unwieldy election.
Shelley’s office is still sorting out how many people qualified for the ballot by Saturday’s deadline. That process could take until Wednesday. As of Monday, 96 candidates were certified and Shelley’s office was reviewing paperwork from about 100 others. About 600 people had notified election officials they were interested in running.
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MOCK THE VOTE
Juuusssst a bit behind
Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (right) released his tax returns for the past five years, showing the Democratic candidate and his wife earned about $124,000 a year. Bustamante, the state’s lieutenant governor, called the figures proof that he needs campaign cash to contend with “multimillionaire” Republicans. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s tax returns for 2000 and 2001 revealed $57 million in earnings.
$1.7 million wardrobe
A Web-based marketer is already advertising Rep. Darrell Issa T-shirts for $15.99. The back bears Issa’s picture and says: “I spent $1.7 million trying to attack democracy and all I got was this stupid T-shirt.”
Not just a guy who smashes fruit
Gallagher took his gubernatorial campaign to the nation’s capital Monday. “I’m tired of being dismissed as merely a guy who smashes fruit,” said Gallagher, who is so well-known for the act that his audiences wear plastic ponchos. His campaign slogan?
“Insanity That Makes Sense.”
Bet on Arnold
The Golden State’s politics has caught the eyes of oddsmakers. BoDog.com, an online sports book in Costa Rica, lists Schwarzenegger as a heavy favorite at 1-10 odds. The book on Davis avoiding a recall: 8-1.
Nature calls
“I gotta tell you, that challenge is of much greater concern to me than the challenge of this election.”
California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, announcing his temporary return to San Francisco, where his wife is expecting a baby boy any moment.
Recall inspires game show
The Game Show Network announced plans for a political-themed special “Who Wants to Be Governor of California?” in which five political candidates will compete for $21,200, the maximum corporate campaign contribution allowed by state law.
Davis gets the message
Gov. Gray Davis said in an interview Monday that the recall effort was an insult to those who voted last year. “I don’t like this, but I am trying to suppress those negative feelings and channel my energies into doing something positive for the people I work for, the people of this great state,” Davis said in an interview on the “Today” show. Davis will lose if he gets less than 50 percent. With so many challengers, the winner could need only a fraction of the vote to become governor.
100-year-old joins the race
Wilmette native Mathilda Spak is 100 years old. Before Election Day arrives in California on Oct. 7, she will turn 101. And her spontaneous decision to enter the race has left her with only one question: How do you run a political campaign? “I guess it will be like a grass-roots campaign,” said Spak, who retired to Long Beach from Chicago four decades ago.
Her filing fee, she said, was paid by the 99 Cents Only Store. During her 99th year, she served as the store’s honorary spokeswoman and presided over the opening of new outlets.
Her platform is simple: Expand the hours of children’s health clinics, so young people, like senior citizens, have better access to treatment. “Look, I’m not fooling myself. I don’t figure on winning. There are too many popular people running,” Spak said.
— REDEYE NEWS SERVICES
