Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Aww, do we really need to count all these votes? I've got a date tonight.

Hello, Matt:

I was talking to a customer at my business yesterday about the election. I commented that I found it handier to go to the Registrar of Voters office on Ruffin Road and vote rather than my regular polling place. He said you shouldn't do that because they don't count absentee votes unless the outcome is close. Is that true? You always hear the commentators on TV talk about waiting for the absentee ballots to be counted before they declare a winner, so I am of a mind that they are counted. What do you think?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Andrea McCarren, the net

I think you need brighter customers. So this whole "one man, one vote" thing, the basis of American democracy, is a lot of hooey? It should be, "one man, one vote, unless it's a landslide, in which case we won't waste our time counting your useless opinion"? Does the registrar just trash those "unnecessary" votes? And who decides if the race is "close"? Too many holes in your customer's logic, I'm afraid. The registrar's office loves to count ballots. The more we vote, the happier they are. Of course all votes are counted; some are just counted sooner than others.

If you vote at the registrar's office, they give you an absentee ballot because you're not at your regular polling place. If you vote at the registrar's office (or your mailed-in ballot is received there by election day), not only is your vote counted, it's counted first, before the ballots that have to be shipped in from the hinterlands or later-arriving absentees.

Absentee ballot envelopes must be signed. That signature must be checked by human eye against the sample signature on the voter's registration card before the ballot is accepted. The sooner you get your ballot in to them, the sooner they can do the tedious work of qualifying it. The envelope is opened, and they pop your ballot into a lock box, where by law it must sit, uncounted, until the polls close on election day.

Ever wonder how the TV folks can have seemingly instant election results? You know-- "The polls have just closed in Weedville, and with one percent of the vote counted, we predict Donald Duck will be the new mayor"? Those early returns are the counts of ballots already received and processed by the registrar's office at poll-closing time. That means you, Andrea.

Usually, absentee ballots are newsworthy only when a race is close and could be decided by the later-arriving, later-processed ballots (absentee ballots mailed on election day or turned in at a polling place). Since this is what we most often hear on the news, that might be where your misguided customer got his daffy "facts." So don't worry, Andrea. You keep votin', the registrar will keep countin'. It's the law.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tyler Farr, Blue Water Film Festival, Mustache Bash

Events March 21-March 23, 2024
Next Article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity

Hello, Matt:

I was talking to a customer at my business yesterday about the election. I commented that I found it handier to go to the Registrar of Voters office on Ruffin Road and vote rather than my regular polling place. He said you shouldn't do that because they don't count absentee votes unless the outcome is close. Is that true? You always hear the commentators on TV talk about waiting for the absentee ballots to be counted before they declare a winner, so I am of a mind that they are counted. What do you think?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Andrea McCarren, the net

I think you need brighter customers. So this whole "one man, one vote" thing, the basis of American democracy, is a lot of hooey? It should be, "one man, one vote, unless it's a landslide, in which case we won't waste our time counting your useless opinion"? Does the registrar just trash those "unnecessary" votes? And who decides if the race is "close"? Too many holes in your customer's logic, I'm afraid. The registrar's office loves to count ballots. The more we vote, the happier they are. Of course all votes are counted; some are just counted sooner than others.

If you vote at the registrar's office, they give you an absentee ballot because you're not at your regular polling place. If you vote at the registrar's office (or your mailed-in ballot is received there by election day), not only is your vote counted, it's counted first, before the ballots that have to be shipped in from the hinterlands or later-arriving absentees.

Absentee ballot envelopes must be signed. That signature must be checked by human eye against the sample signature on the voter's registration card before the ballot is accepted. The sooner you get your ballot in to them, the sooner they can do the tedious work of qualifying it. The envelope is opened, and they pop your ballot into a lock box, where by law it must sit, uncounted, until the polls close on election day.

Ever wonder how the TV folks can have seemingly instant election results? You know-- "The polls have just closed in Weedville, and with one percent of the vote counted, we predict Donald Duck will be the new mayor"? Those early returns are the counts of ballots already received and processed by the registrar's office at poll-closing time. That means you, Andrea.

Usually, absentee ballots are newsworthy only when a race is close and could be decided by the later-arriving, later-processed ballots (absentee ballots mailed on election day or turned in at a polling place). Since this is what we most often hear on the news, that might be where your misguided customer got his daffy "facts." So don't worry, Andrea. You keep votin', the registrar will keep countin'. It's the law.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Next Article

Coyote tracks in frail San Diego avocado grove

Second place winner in Reader neighborhood writing contest
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.