I was just looking at the numbers--AGAIN. Everybody knows people walk into the voter booth and many don’t vote for the judges. This can be seen by the numbers: 190,783 votes were cast in Miami Dade (16.3% of registered voters). The Garcia/Glick judge race got 157,174 total votes (the highest voter turnout for judges) so 33,609 of those who voted did not vote in this particular judge's race. Not surprising at all. Many people leave the judge section blank because they either have no idea who to vote for or just don't care.
Here is what is surprising 176,372 voted in the Mayor’s race. That means 14,411 people traveled to vote, waited on line, got in the booth and did not vote in the Mayor’s race -- the highest office on the ballot (or they did not mark their absentee ballot for “Mayor”). That one has left me thinking: Why? That is a shitload of people not voting...or is there a glitch? By the way, anyone know what happened to those 3,000 or so missing ballots in Palm Beach?
11 comments:
not every vote is a undercount or missing ballot.
sometimes those are called protest votes.
I'm one of those folks. I vote on what I think are the important races. Sometimes its also that I didn't get a chance to review the ballot and don't know the candidates in certain races - so, not going to play like its a high school test and make guesses, possibly putting some bonehead in office on a close election.
I didn't vote for Alvarez because he's a pathetic icon for a "good mayor" in Miami-Dade. Sure, he stood up on "Hold the Line" - he should have - you don't get BIG points in my book for doing what's obviously the correct policy.
Look at any other vibrant, progressive city and you've got someone willing to take the lead, guide creative, corrupt-busting policies through. Alvarez seems more concerned about keeping a low-profile and not stepping on a land-mine than aggressively pursuing the bad apples. He's gotten too comfortable with the team that surrounds him and appears to solely be listening to them on what to do - great leaders, it's the other way around.
More so, he's put us on a ticking time bomb with the strong Mayor change. Folks voted for it out of frustration with the County Commission and he's done nothing to use that power for cleaning up the County corruption, promoting laws to put the squeeze on County Commissioners and bring reform to that division of government. Seems he'll angle for some State House or Senate seat, continue living on the government tit and leaves us with the threat of some real scumbag getting into the Mayors office next cycle. That doesn't earn a vote from me.
Well stated, Neo.
I'm not surprised about this Mayor's race. There was no true opposition, I voted against him out of frustation but in essence I knew it was a non vote as that person had no chance.
As far as the missing ballots they have been found:
Palm Beach County's missing ballots appear to be found
By Mark Hollis | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 12, 2008
Palm Beach County's missing ballot mystery is solved.
Investigators searching for nearly 3,500 missing ballots from the Aug. 26 election say they have located a "substantial number"— and perhaps nearly all — of the unaccounted-for ballots.
Despite rumors, the ballots hadn't been mistakenly dumped in a landfill or left behind at voting precincts. Rather, they were found in the county's vote-tabulating center near West Palm Beach.
"The ballots were found in this room, not in garbage bags, not in the trunks of cars," lead investigator Brad Merriman, an assistant county administrator, told reporters Thursday.
The tabulation center, a concrete-block warehouse near the Palm Beach International Airport, is where a detailed resorting and recounting of ballots revealed that several boxes of ballots from voting precincts simply were not recounted during an Aug. 29 and Aug. 30 machine and hand recount, and thus, were considered lost.
Additionally, an unspecified number of other ballots from precincts across the county have been found in boxes containing ballots that had been recounted, county officials say.
Many of the ballots, investigators said, were found amid batches of ballots that were in boxes containing so-called "undervotes" and "overvotes" in a disputed, razor-close judicial race. Those ballots were rejected as unreadable by machines because voters had either voted for both candidates in that race, neither candidate, or had scribbled on the ballot in a way that made it difficult for the vote to be deciphered.
Why these ballots were not recounted or found sooner remains unclear, and subject to the ongoing county investigation.
But county leaders, who have been pestered by political groups and elected officials demanding urgent state action to rectify the ballot-counting debacle, said they are heartened by the initial results of the probe of what went wrong here after the Aug. 26 vote.
"People are feeling pretty good right now," Commissioner Mary McCarty said. "Optimism is reigning supreme."
While the Aug. 26 vote was Florida's first widespread use of new optical-scan voting equipment, Thursday's announcement provides more evidence there weren't counting problems with the equipment. Rather, the troubles, Merriman said, may have been "math problems" by polling workers, as well as confusion in the sorting and resorting of ballots.
Details about the investigation are to be announced today. Only rough details were provided Thursday.
"We have identified that there were some ballots found but not counted during the recount," Merriman said at a press conference. And when asked how many have been found, he refused to provide specific number but said that it is "a significant number."
On Monday, county investigators will submit recommendations in preparation for the Nov. 4 general election.
Mark Hollis can be reached at mhollis@SunSentinel.com or 561-228-5512.
I doubt seriously that someone (anyone) would go from being mayor of Miami-Dade County (pop. 2.4 million / Salary $260 k + annually) and decide to become a State Rep. or Senator (Salary - $34,000 per year).
That's quite a step backwards.
m
No, the salary is not the focus, it is all about the name recognition, perks and prestige. The Mayor doesn't need the 34k. He has his nest egg from the police department. The current salary is just the icing on his cake.
More than likely, it would be more fun for him to run for Senate or Lt. Governor. He wants to be Governor, everything between here and there is just a ladder to the prize.
Agreed, major step backwards but better than Alex Penelas, right? Alex made a laughing stock of himself with the Elian sell-out and failed U.S. Senate attempt.
Does Alvarez have the cojones to try for the U.S. Seante. Ya know take-out Martinez in the primary. Martinez is in serious trouble, his approval numbers are below 25%? Does Alvarez play beyond Dade County with the Republican Party or is he doomed to fail like Alex?
He's definitely got the opportunity to make a name for himself to seek higher office. Seems he just needs to wake up and start really shaking up the status quo in the County.
Of course he could just cash out and go the private consultant route in County cotnracting (groan). Let's see what stuff Alvarez is made of. He came out of nowhere to become Mayor. Was aggressive, passionate, instilled hope in people - that fire sparks again - he'll get my vote back.
Do you realize that the Miami Dade Mayor governs about 3 times as many people as Sarah Palin does in the State of Alaska as Governor?
So what...
That's so scary...
Anybody who votes for McCain after he's pulled this cr@p should have their head checked. He knows he'll be the oldest man to ever take the office and he lets his ambition to win overwhelm his judgment and sense of duty to the Country should he die.
I really felt bad for McCain way back in 2000 when Bush pulled all that nasty mudslinging, lying bullsh*t to take him in the South Carolina primary. Now that he's embraced that same BS, I hope he rots in hell.
There's this saying about a pot and a kettle that applies quite well here.
It's a blog - opinions wanted.
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