Election Results: A New Progressive Era Dawns in USA & Sebastopol Jabob AND Eder Win!

[Peacetown Jonathan]

It's 4 am and the results are in. Most of the news is very, very good for California Progressives and America in general. Obama is in. Elizabeth Warren, in my view our next President in 2016, takes a seat as a new truly populist, courageous, enormously articulate leader in the Senate. Colorado and Washington became the first two states in American history to fully legalize marijuana! A lesbian was elected to Senate, Tammy Baldwion in Wsiconsin, for the first time in US History. Gay marriage was approved by public referendum by voters in Maryland and Maine, another historic first. Democrats will probably have a super-majority in the state legislature for the first time since 1933, and be able to tax according to our needs. We WON on Prop 30 to fund our schools (hallelujah!), we curbed three strikes, and closed a ridiculous tax loophole that will instead go to fund more than $500 million each year of green jobs! We approved our sales tax hike, bond issues for area schools, won a swing majority for a greener slate of Supervisors. We lost Prop 37 by a few points to the deceptive TV ads bankrolled by some of the most nefarious corporations on the planet, BUT WE THE VOTING PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA WILL SEE YOU IN A YEAR OR TWO MONSANTO AND WE WON'T LET YOU WIN NEXT TIME!!

As of this hour, Jacobs won handily and Eder is ahead of Kathleen Shaffer by NINE VOTES!
There might be provisional ballots and such, but at this moment, it looks like in a clearly defined contest, we have elected a progressive majority to help transform our community for these challenging times.

The vote totals had 54% of all votes cast for Jacob or Eder, and 44% for Shaffer and Austin.

This is a victory for the many of us who opposed CVS, a victory for local business over corporate interests, a victory for the conscientious regulation of commercial users of leaf blowers and our ecology, a victory for Sebastopol Tomorrow and our small group, Progressive Sebastopol, over the realtor-PAC backed campaigns of Kathleen Shaffer and Cathy Austin, along with their inappropriately named "Sustainable Sebastopol" and "Sebastopol Citizens."

As Robert Jacob proclaimed tonight at Aubergine:

"We are not a vocal minority. We are a progressive majority!"

Amen.

[Scott McKeown]

So is the nine vote difference for the second Sebastopol City Council seat a final official result or are there more absentee ballots to be counted? At this moment (1:00 PM Wed.) the PD website is saying the nine vote difference is "too close to call". Does anyone have more information about this?

[Scott McKeown]

According to the PD it seems the second Sebastopol City Council seat is still very much undecided as there are up to 35,000 ballots in Sonoma County yet to be counted and it could take weeks to finalize. - Scott


Officials: Up to 35,000 Sonoma County ballots still to be counted
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20121107/ARTICLES/121109649/1350?Title=Officials-Up-to-35-000-ballots-still-to-be-counted

By BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Last Modified: Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at 1:31 p.m.

Sonoma County election workers on Wednesday morning began the chore of sorting the mail-in and provisional ballots that were not counted on Tuesday.

Election officials said it will be two to three days before they know even how many uncounted ballots there are, but estimate that as many as 35,000 ballots have not been tallied.

It may take weeks to determine the outcome of some races with razor-thin margins, including the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors contest between Susan Gorin and John Sawyer, in which Gorin holds a lead of 1,299 votes after early mail-in ballots and precincts were counted.

“We are not sure what is out there, we are going through the warehouse now,” said Liz Acosta, county elections manager.

[Runningbare]

" . . .we abolished the death penalty . . ." Where did you hear that?

[Peacetown Jonathan]

Sorry...I apparently made a mistake very late in the morning reading that stat.

As far as the lead that John Eder has over Kathleen Shaffer, it is hard to say how many of those final provisional ballots will impact the city council election for Sebastopol. Provisional ballots are for people who appear at their voting booth and are not registered there but think that they should be. I did not see any of this at my polling place. Later uncounted mail ins are likely small in our community as well, since we had a drop off at the Veteran's building and I saw scores of people going in and out of these Tuesday. All those votes were probably counter, The late mail-ins are those who mailed them in late, probably the many more rural areas of our County. This is just my opinion; but I would say that we do not have another 10% of the vote to go, probably not 1%. Yet it may be a while before we know the final result of the very very tight Eder/Shafdfer outcome.

[b.w. rose]

The vote tally in today's newspaper is the unofficial tally of all votes:
that were mailed in and received by the Registrar of Voters by Monday
that were hand delivered to the weekend voting stations (Vets bldg)
that were dropped off at the Registrar of Voters by Monday
that were cast in person at the polling places on Tuesday.

This count does not include all votes
that arrived in the mail on Tuesday
or absentees that were dropped off at the polling places or the Registrar's office on Tuesday.
Usual practice is for the Registrar of Voters office to verify and count those last mentioned absentees ballot this week, possibly releasing the "final unofficial tally" by Friday.

However, that is not the last word until the office certifies the election results, a process that is usually completed by Thanksgiving. In cases like the Sebastopol contest where there is such a slim vote margin, the office is likely to conduct a sample recount as part of the "final official tally" that goes to the Secretary of State's office. So don't expect a final word on the second Sebastopol seat until about Thanksgiving.

So is the nine vote difference for the second Sebastopol City Council seat a final official result or are there more absentee ballots to be counted? At this moment (1:00 PM Wed.) the PD website is saying the nine vote difference is "too close to call". Does anyone have more information about this?

[Peacetown Jonathan]

It really seems that they will not be able to call this till Thanksgiving. It surprises me that all those people who dropped off finished absentee ballots at Vets Center did not have them counted at the same time as those who voted in the same polling place. I would think the count of the results from that location could happen at the same time.

But it sounds like you are more familiar with the reality of this than I am. So thank you very much for this insight!

[Peace Voyager]

I've work as a precinct inspector for 8 elections; there are many reasons for provisional ballots. One is losing or "spoiling" your ballot, as in making a mistake and needing to redo it.

I am a registered voter and I vote provisional for unique reasons.

Sorry...I apparently made a mistake very late in the morning reading that stat.

As far as the lead that John Eder has over Kathleen Shaffer, it is hard to say how many of those final provisional ballots will impact the city council election for Sebastopol. Provisional ballots are for people who appear at their voting booth and are not registered there but think that they should be. I did not see any of this at my polling place. Later uncounted mail ins are likely small in our community as well, since we had a drop off at the Veteran's building and I saw scores of people going in and out of these Tuesday. All those votes were probably counter, The late mail-ins are those who mailed them in late, probably the many more rural areas of our County. This is just my opinion; but I would say that we do not have another 10% of the vote to go, probably not 1%. Yet it may be a while before we know the final result of the very very tight Eder/Shafdfer outcome.

[Peace Voyager]

It's important the Registrar of Voters review the signatures on the mail-in & provisional, etc. ballots to prevent fraud. As you can imagine, checking over 30,000 takes some time.

It really seems that they will not be able to call this till Thanksgiving. It surprises me that all those people who dropped off finished absentee ballots at Vets Center did not have them counted at the same time as those who voted in the same polling place. I would think the count of the results from that location could happen at the same time.

But it sounds like you are more familiar with the reality of this than I am. So thank you very much for this insight!