Barring any unforeseen land mines, Chris Doherty, in my opinion, will win a third term. There was some kind of sea change yesterday. Will it last? Don't know. But with Frank Shimkus' remarkable write-in effort, the Hillary tidal wave, and the current uproar in the "other" Democratic party, there is no doubt who the clear favorite is now.
I am in 100% agreement with your judge of elections rant over at DD. Mary-ann-spell-man-you-ng is awful. But to be fair, many of the procedures were absolutely stupid or vague, too, if not entirely wrong. Not sure if she's to blame entirely for that.
The write-in tallying procedure, especially in precincts not represented by 113, was completely unecessary, and will likely open up can after can of worms for the precints within the 113th. At the very least, it will probably hand a can opener to our favorite fauxttorney.
The salaries for each precinct's officials needs to be increased by at least 50%, and some long serving officials need to be not asked back. Several districts should probably be combined, and the big machines for the blind/handicapped ( I forget the name because it never came into use), did not need to be in EVERY location. Maybe one per ward, not one per location. The money saved could have been used to train the directors on how to run an election.
Perhaps one last attempt can be made to educate the voters, before putting the onus on the individual voter? It seems that the average voter cannot follow the simplest of instructions, no matter how many times or ways these instructions are presented to them. VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN ONE is in big bold letters. How many people voted for more than one alternate delegate where you were, Glen? I explained the errors to the people, and they just went ahead an accepted it anyway, so that wasn't a big hassle in the end, really. DO NOT USE CHECK MARKS, DO NOT USE AN X. I stopped counting the people I sent back into the booth to color in the ovals because they used check marks or an X.
I really don't think it's disenfranchising the voter when their votes are not counted because they didn't submit a properly completed ballot because they did not read directions. After all, if a candidate can be tossed for that very reason, so should a ballot.
The ballot itself, as far as delegates went, was a bit misleading. If the alternate turns out to be a male, the two females have a very valid complaint, know what I mean?
People also need to take the responsibility to know their reps, who's running, for what, when to register, their party affiliation, that they are NOT eligible to vote in a primary if they are not a D or R, and their polling location. It's not the Judge of Election's job to tell them all of that. Well, it kind of is, but it shouldn't be.
My opinion on the optical scanner was changed once I saw it in use. If we can stick with it for many years to come, I'd be fine with that, and so will probably most of the population. Plus, those pens were nice. If we change machines againin a year, then all bets are off.
Oh, the things I'd change if I were in Spellman-Youngs orthopedic shoes...
I was very pleased, though, to see the.....diversity.....of the voters yesterday. A lot of first time voters, too.
I am with you Paul, damn, but some people are rock heads. Really if you can't read and follow simple directions should you be voting?? I am not so sure sometimes.
Oh well at least Joey had a good day afterall everyone he wanted to lose did.........NOT!!! LOL LOL LOL Still irrelevent after all these years LOL LOL
