[EL] Allen West recount

Sun Nov 18 18:33:52 PST 2012

Separate from the Presidential election and Electoral College issue is the
potential for issues at the state level. The legislature meets the first
Monday of December, just a couple of days beyond the deadline for certifying
the election. It's a one-day session to "organize" the houses - elect
leadership. Some early bills also are put across the desk. As the majority
party usually elects one of its own as Speaker of the Assembly and President
Pro Tempore of the Senate, what happens if one or more seats that might be
determinative of the majority are not certified until the deadline and a
re-count ensues. Also, statutes and constitutional amendments passed by the
voters on the ballot take effect Jan. 1. A close election with a statewide
re-count could be an issue.

These deadlines have existed for a long time. What has changed is the work
load involved in processing millions of late absentee ballots and
provisional ballots.

Larry

From: Paul Lehto [mailto:lehto.paul at gmail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2012 5:53 PM
To: larrylevine at earthlink.net
Cc: Rick Hasen; law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Allen West recount

On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 1:27 PM, Larry Levine <larrylevine at earthlink.net>
wrote:

[...] In California that means more than 3 million late absentees and
provisional after the election. I imagine other states had large numbers of
similar ballots to be counted. If the election is certified 30 days after
Election Day, that makes it the first week in December before a recount can
be requested. Imagine an election in which the final verdict depended on a
large state with a large number of  ballots to be processed and counted
after Election Day. Oops. That already happened.  Seriously, as the number
of late absentee ballots and provisional ballots continues to climb this
becomes a greater potential for disaster mounts.

Larry

Well California is now down from 3.349 million ballots just a few days ago
to around 1.7 million ballots left to be counted as of November 16, 2012.
However, the pace of vote counting has slowed down as the days go by, and
some counties will use essentially all of the 31 days provide before
certifying huge chunks of the California vote.

We are looking at a smaller form of actual, current disaster in that the
meaning of these elections are already quite well settled in the public and
pundit-minds, despite many millions of uncounted votes, and further despite
the fact that those uncounted votes are typically not representative of
those ballots actually processed and reported on election night.  Numbers do
shift in California and elsewhere, but the margin of victory and the
competitiveness of candidates and the like are already well settled in the
public mind.  

This is a form of partial disfranchisement in practical terms because
millions of ballots are no part of the headlines or discussion in the days
or weeks after the election.  Unless we posit that ballots that "don't
change the overall result" don't matter, then to discuss election results in
anything but clear and express "provisional" (no pun intended) terms is to
effectively ignore the ballots of many millions nationwide.   

Paul Lehto, J.D.

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick
Hasen
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2012 10:04 AM
To: law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: [EL] Allen West recount

 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=44482> "West seeks hearing after Murphy camp
declares victory when St. Lucie board misses noon deadline" 

Posted on November 18, 2012 10:02 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=44482>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

<http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/recount
-resumes-as-noon-deadline-looms/nS9Dh/> Palm Beach Post: "The St. Lucie
County canvassing board has missed a noon deadline to file election results
to the Division of Elections, prompting campaign officials for Patrick
Murphy to declare the political newcomer the winner in the race for
congressional District 18 race."

This will be one of those instances in which Republicans call for counting
every vote and Democrats call for sticking to the rules as written.

See also St. Lucie Voting System Noted for Errors
<http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/st-lucie-voting-system-noted-for-err
ors/nS9CQ/> .

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> ,
recounts <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=50> , The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>  | Comments Off |

-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org
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Paul R Lehto, J.D.
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