UPDATE: Darth Schroeder has officially filed a lawsuit in Superior Court. Go ahead and see the lawsuit for yourself. I guess we'll see what the courts have to say about this never-ending special election.
Janet Nguyen told us once again tonight, "Every vote matters"...
And you know what? She definitely proved that to be true. Apparently, the Registrar of Voters has now certified the special election results, and Janet Nguyen expects to be sworn in as Orange County Supervisor tomorrow.
Follow me after the flip for more on this breaking news (and more photos!)...
Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley just determined that it's okay to do a quick electronic download on the recount, rather than hand counting all the paper ballots generated by the electronic voting machines. Within a couple hours, we should have a newly certified result.
And at 5:00 PM, Janet Nguyen plans to hold a press conference...
And yes, I will be there to cover it for you!
Stay tuned as it looks like I finally find out who the heck is going to be my next County Supervisor!
The disputed ballot resolution session is over, and Trung Nguyen picked up 5 votes, Janet Nguyen picked up 2 votes and had 1 voided -- meaning Trung picked up 4 votes in the challenges.
However, Janet picked up 10 votes during Friday's recount, so she's still ahead by 6 votes.
Team trung Attorneys Mike Schroeder, Steve Baric, Mike Houston plus advisors Lan Nguyen and Dina Nguyen are strategizing in the lobby and poring through a heavily tabbed book of California codes.
OK, so I'm feeling tired today...
And I still have so many things to do...
So here's a new weekend tradition that I'm starting here...
Yes, I'm starting it just for you! SURREAL OC WEEKEND!
- Chuck DeVore surprises me again! After seeing that DeVore is teaming up with Mark Leno again to push legislation legalizing industrial hemp, I was quite blown away... UNTIL I SAW THIS!! "Breaking the cycle of recidivism will alleviate the severe overcrowding that is crippling our correctional system... The ability to offer focused drug treatment will not only help people stay out of prison and rebuild their lives, it will go a long way towards keeping our homes and streets safer." And yes, AB 716 is co-authored by Democrat Mervyn Dymally. Now if only we could get Arnold to care about real solutions to this real problem...
Looks like Janet Nguyen gets to spend the weekend as the higher vote-getter in the First District supes race as she's up by at least nine votes. But she better enjoy it while she can. Trung Nguyen's people say they fully intend to get back their lost votes when Registrar Neal Kelley makes his rulings on contested ballots first thing Monday morning.
Art Pedroza is already declaring victory for Janet Nguyen on Orange Juice. It looks like my friend Art is already plotting Janet's immediate political future. Meanwhile, Jubal/Matt Cunningham is saying that Trung Nguyen's team is hoping to make up today's losses in the Monday morning challenge at OC Blog. I guess with about 75 ballots that were marked for the write-in option (just below Trung Nguyen), yet no candidate written in (Were these votes for Trung?), expect plenty of action on the final day of challenges in this recount...
And stay tuned for more of the beginning of the end of the OC Special Election saga.
Here are some wild and wonderful stories from behind the Orange Curtain, and and across the Land of the OC, that will make you laugh, cry, and scratch your head in total disbelief:
- Congressman Oblivious. Guess who said this about Iraq: "We are in a long war with people…who want to kil [sic] us. No one has yet offered an alternative plan." Wow, so I guess the bipartisan Iraq Study Group report doesn't count? Ah, more wisdom from the same person who proclaimed that "Baghdad is safer than Washington, D.C." Dan Chmielewski has more at The Liberal OC.
- Mr. NAMBLA goes to court. Jeff Nielsen is a hard-core Republican Party activist... And he is a pedophile. Well, he was recently caught with his pants down... And now, his trial begins. Hmmm... And the GOP is supposed to be the party of "moral values"?
Just got back from the Registrar of Voters office...Janet Nguyen has pulled even with Trung Nguyen on Day Three of the recount of the First District supes race.
And oh yes, this is from Trung Nguyen's campaign team. No word yet from Team Janet on what their count looks like. But still, I have a feeling that they will also say that Janet picked up about four votes today.
And in other OC Recount news today, the recount will probably not be finished until Monday. Jubal is reporting at OC Blog that the final disputed ballot resolution has been postponed until 9:00 AM Monday. Stay tuned for more on the never-ending drama that is the OC Special Election and the ongoing recount. : )
The latest word on the Special ElectionRecount is that Trung Nguyen is hanging onto a four vote lead. And at this point, this may be a good sign for him as they have yet to recount Trung's stronghold of Westminster.
However, there are also still ballots left to be recounted in Santa Ana. And yes, there are even a few left in Janet Nguyen's stronghold of Garden Grove. And oh yes, Janet Nguyen's legal team is still looking into all the foul play that Trung Nguyen's campaign was allegedly a part of. So apparently, this race still is not over...
And I guess not even the debate over today's count is over! As I am writing this update right now, I am checking Total Buzz and noticing that Team Janet is asserting that Trung only finished the day up by three. Well, don't expect the OC Registrar of Voters to clarify the matter right now. They will not release daily breakdowns, but only a final result of this recount.
(The videos are now up! Now, you can watch the press conference as well. Oh yes, and Calitics has a new fan over at The OC Register! ; ) - promoted by atdleft)
At today's press conference, Janet Nguyen and her attorneys reassured everyone that "every vote maters", and that this is why they have decided to pursue a recount. And oh yes, they do intend to investigate the forty cases that they have already received of alleged voterfraud. And yes, they suggested that these cases of voter fraud may be coming from the Van Tran/Trung Nguyen operation in Westminster.
But still, they did not want to give any details about these claims of voter fraud. And they did not go into detail on how they wanted the recount to be done. But still, I did find out a little more about what their strategy is.
Follow me after the flip for more on what to expect next...
(including more photos from the event)
UPDATE: Peggy Lowe is also covering this at The OC Register'sTotal Buzz. Oh yes, and Jubal has audio of the press conference up at OC Blog. He should also have video up soon. : )
UPDATE 3: Total Buzz has all the details on how the recount will go. "It will go in this order, with the precinct votes in each city counted first and then the absentee ballots before moving on to the next city: Garden Grove, Midway City, Santa Ana, Westminster."
This morning, Janet Nguyen's lawyers may go to court to stop certification of Tuesday's supervisorial election. They intend to question the accuracy of the electronic voting machines here and the Registrar of Voter's determination on some of the provisional ballots cast. Though it's far from certain that as many as seven votes can be switched, Team Janet remains confident: (From OC Register)
"We have an excellent chance of getting seven votes switched," said Dave Gilliard, Janet Nguyen's campaign consultant. "At seven votes, I think the race is still very much up in the air."
OK, so Gilliard may be your typical GOP consultant. And Janet might not be the most sympathetic of candidates. But still, follow me after the flip and I'll show you how this race is still "very much in the air". That air, after all, may be quite stinky...
Yesterday the OCRegister blog reported (here and here) that "between 9 and 12 persons" were arrested in connection with a voter registration fraud scheme in which more than 100 Democratic and Independent voters had their registrations switched to Republican. The LATimes picked up the story this morning too, reporting the number of arrests to be 11. This scandal is in addition to the well-known Tan Nguyen voter fraud/racist vote supression scandal. The O.C. GOP really has some issues. This is what you get with single-party rule and no accountability.
It's getting a bit tired isn't it? In yesterday's Sac Bee, it was reported that some fraudulent registration applications from their SoCal grassroots people.
Several GOP voter-registration workers created fake individuals in documents submitted to the California Republican Party, which said Thursday that it discovered the fraudulent activity through an internal review and forwarded its findings to Secretary of State Bruce McPherson.
GOP spokesman Patrick Dorinson said the party caught the undisclosed number of falsified voter affidavits early enough that it avoided registering any fraudulent names with the state. (SacBee 9/1/06)
Uh, yeah, sure you did. I'm sure you caught all of the fake people, the dead people, etc. You know, that large spike in GOP registration did seem a bit on the large side. How many of those people really registered?
And Mr. McP says's he'll be all over this scandal, just as soon as he's done campaigning on the state's dime. Yeah, I'll buy that promise right after I finish completing my "Facts of Life" Tootie Video Montage. Which is to say, the 12th of Never. So, need I mention that Debra is on the Calitics ActBlue page?
