Tuesday is Dues-day. The dues are schooling yourself on how our local governance is organized, who are the players, what are the screw-ups, where is the money and what things get reported?
You’re a citizen, an advocate for democracy with this first step, paying attention.
Mail-in ballots will be sent within this first week of October.
Mail-in ballots will be sent within this first week of October.
Citizen Tip #1 - Pick 2 for City Council
Citizen Tip #2 - Send your Mail-In Ballot back ASAP
Identified by the unfortunate term "bullet voting" the decision to vote for only 2 candidates in a 3 open seat election seems really counter-intuitive. This is largely a function of math, rather than a scientific measure of any kind. In Encinitas we have seen our candidates lose when there are too many candidates on the ballot. Even a candidate on the ballot (who had actually withdrawn) got votes that could have gone to our preferred candidate that year.
Lisa Shaffer and Tony Kranz have been serious candidates all year and we'd love to see them break all voting records. Ousting incumbent politicians is difficult in any race and is a really tight race with as many low information voters like we have in Encinitas. A third vote on your ballot, let's call it "selecting because it's there" choice could throw the vote in an unintended way. At this stage I will forgo an embarrassingly inept explanation that has pros and cons, objective and subjective probabilities and math theories beyond my understanding. Google awaits you who seek more on bullet voting.
I do understand that there are amongst us those seasoned veterans of our very own community. They told me to tell you this. The tip is to vote for only two - Lisa Shaffer and Tony Kranz. But if you feel compelled to vote for a third, this is the stuff of democracy. Amiright?
Citizen Tip #2 - Send your Mail-In Ballot back ASAP
Why should you mail it back right away? PSYCH! On election night the very first vote numbers released are the mail-in ballot votes. According to long time Encinitas poll watching experts with many years of election nights, it is very exciting to see and feel the fruits of a successful campaign showing up. It fits the US traditional horse race competition for public office seats as a form of entertainment. The fun part after all the rest.
There is another reason to vote as soon as possible and that is to escape all the nastiness that big donor money can buy in the form of misleading mailers or any other kind of October surprise. You won't be second guessing yourself based on any nasty tactics like push polling, robo calls or the like. Psychologically you will be free of it all. You will have done your civic best and only have the get out the vote (GOTV) stage left -for all the voters who vote at polling places all over town.
The last reason to vote early is to be sure your vote actually is counted. Maybe you like the ceremony of going to your polling station on election day but have wanted a paper ballot. You want control of for your vote, so you receive a mail-in ballot but you walk your mail-in ballot to the polling place on election day. Editor confession, I'm guilty. For me it was also inspired by the serious lack of trust in the San Diego Registrar of Voters and who might be messing unobserved with those early ballots. Our last decade of election fraud via records manipulation, pretend hanging chads, computer fixing, etc. has made millions like me paranoiac. (Still continuing BTW . . . )
But here is the flip side of the über cautious approach which changed my mind forever, those ballots that are handed over to the registrar on election night are the last priority in counting and may take weeks. Think of them like a provisional ballot. As cited all over this country, they can get "lost" forever. One year I looked every few days at the San Diego Registrar of Voters site to check for the added mail-in counts. I finally gave up when I never saw them added.
Citizen Tip #3 - Propositions - Ballot Initiatives
Contrary to what Citizen Tip #2 advised for speed, do take some time to understand the ballot initiatives. This week there is a League of Women Voters session to assist people in understanding these 11 California State propositions #30-#40. (via Councilwoman Barth newsletter)
League of Women Voters
Ballot Measures - Pros & Cons
Thu, October 4, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Cardiff Library, 2081 Newcastle Ave, Cardiff
The presentation will be an impartial discussion of the measures on the Nov. 6 ballot
Presented by League members Margie Monroy and Nancy Telford
The official California General Election guide is now out to reference on your own. Plus, we will post on propositions of importance to us as progressives at EYNU in a separate post. There is a great deal of spin and manipulation going on in these propositions because very big money - GIGANTIC money interests are behind creating some and attempting to destroy others. Knowledge and awareness are the only defense against big money.
Our local election Proposition K regarding this council majority's proposal to have an elected mayor will also be covered in another post this week.
Added tip for the political wonks out there interested in the larger issues of US electoral politics, check out an interview on election 2012 from Noam Chomsky.
