blog, news, politics, race

Monitors at SF Polls as voters try to make history–if Ranked Choice Voting lets them

4 Comments

As expected, California’s Secretary of State has sent monitors to roam polling places in San Francisco making sure there’s no funny business in today’s election. It’s a clear sign that someone is taking the allegations of voter fraud and ballot tampering in the campaign seriously.

Seven candidates urged the state to monitor the election after allegations of election misconduct were made against volunteers for interim Mayor Ed Lee. The blue-shirted “Ed Heads” were seen marking and taking ballots from Chinese-speaking voters. One source told me Lee was supposed to sign on to the letter to make it a united front by the top candidates against any improprieties.  In Ranked Choice Voting races, you are supposed to get that kind of collegiality.  But not here. Lee was left off the letter, as some of the also-rans apparently chose to make this a last minute and not so subtle attack on Mayor Interim.

It could backfire on everyone.

Lee may slip back as everybody’s No.2 or No. 3 choice and more easily win a majority.

Or as people are hoping, angry voters could leave him off the ballot entirely, creating a real “Hail Mary” situation in Ranked Choice Voting. No one has a majority and every ballots’ No.2 and No.3 comes into play until a majority is had.

History at first blush may have seemed partial to a first Asian American mayor with so many Asian American candidates. But in a RCV shootout, who knows who gets the No.2s and No.3s. It doesn’t have to be an Asian American.

Whatever, the whole thing seems more random than not, though RCV supporters will say it’s totally logical. They may be able to explain it step by step so it makes theoretical sense. But in the effort to save time and money (no more costly runoff elections, what a deal!), RCV adds a confusing layer of complexity that leads to distrust.  

You don’t need to understand the math to vote.  You just need to trust the vote.  RCV takes voter sentiment out of context.  A second and third choice could be different if they have no chance to win on a subsequent tally. 

It makes you yearn for a simpler, old-fashioned way. Instant runoff savings?  It may not be worth it if voters end up wondering what the hell happened to their vote.

See my blog post at www.aaldef.org/blog

blog, news, politics, race

First Asian American Mayor in SF? Or Will Ranked-Choice Voting prevent it from happening?

Sure, I’d  like to see history be made.  But In my  “Amok” column for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog, I wondered about the  scenario no one seems to want to contemplate. 

www.aaldef.org/blog

What if no Asian Americans get a majority of the vote and San Francisco fails to produce its first elected Asian American mayor?

It’s very possible that because of Ranked Choice Voting, as well as some of the recent headlines generated by the campaigns the last few weeks, that none of the five top Asian American  candidates could get  the majority needed to win.

And then what? Would that be the end of the world? Maybe for Rose Pak and Willie Brown, but that’s not so bad.

http://www.aaldef.org/blog/

If you’re a San Francisco registered voter, don’t forget to vote. And remember, that to really make your ballot count to its full potential under ranked choice voting, make it a triple.

blog, journalism, news

Ode to Andy: CBS,”60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney was my broadcast hero

I was saddened by the news early this morning when CBS alerted the world that Andy Rooney died Friday night.

I actually got word of his death on my Blackberry (yes, I still have one) as an alert from the Washington Post. That probably would have rated a sentimental jab from Rooney about the demise of the teletype and cable wire as the main bearer of bad news, but I digress.

The 92-year-old was one of my broadcast heroes throughout my career.

It was tough going to want to be a curmudgeon when you’re  just in your twenties, which I suppose explains my career arc, or lack of one.  You spend your life in punk purgatory before anyone lets you curmudge for a living.

But CBS seemed to have all the broadcast oddballs.  Kuralt, Osgood, Rooney. They were the guys allowed to be a little more than a minute-and-a-half would allow. They had personality and more.  They weren’t the hard-ass stand up guys with the Capitol sticking out of their head. Oh,they were good reporters, too. But Kuralt was folksy. Osgood was witty and bow-tied. Rooney was, well you know what he was.  Eyebrowed. None of those guys  were the prettiest things on TV. But they were the writers on TV, the literary stars who could turn a phrase when there were no pictures. 

Rooney was the most daring.  More often than not it was just him staring into the camera like an aging bullfighter, or  doing a show-and tell, holding up an example of his  ironic subject and point of his ire. One commentary that made an impression was where he held up a Sunday paper and started cleaning it as if it were a fish.  I never quite looked at another Sunday paper the same way again.

Not many places let you do the kind of thing Rooney did. And there was a time I could tell the TV guys made him throw more pictures in. That’s when I first thought maybe Old Eyebrows was  failing. But he still had the  look and the sound. He could still pose the rhetorical “nagging question” better than anyone.  When you’re a professional curmudgeon, fine wine is for sissies. Curmudgeons age like an old boot.

When everyone said goodbye a month ago, I resisted joining in on the tributes back then, knowing he was just reaching his  curmudgeonly prime, hoping that all the retirement talk was premature, and that, indeed, he’d be back for more. They always say that, and  then it never happens.

My regret is that I never got to meet him, though I suspect it’s better that way.  I would probably have done something non-pre-curmudgeon-like  like ask  for an autograph.  And we all know how much he liked that. 

The closest I came to him was working briefly with his daughter Emily in Boston.  Now there’s a tough cookie.

My condolences to the family.  

So long Andy. And don’t worry,  after you get past the gates, there are few autograph seekers in the after-life.

blog, news, politics

Did the ’60s have a plan? Occupy Oakland needs a plan

Some old friends of mine from when I lived in a semi-1 percent neighborhood posted a Halloween photo on Facebook recently. They are now in a true 1 percent neighborhood, and I am in the Valley of the 99 percent, so I was hardly amused by the photo. The husband, a big time corporate lawyer was dressed nattily as a “1 percenter.”  His wife? A big sign on her identified her at the 99 percent.

Ha-ha? Only the rich can joke about these things.  But it’s not funny.  The husband as a 1 percenter? It’s like the hooker going to the Halloween party as a ….hooker.  Not funny. And the wife with a 99 percent sign?

I wish being a 99 percenter was all about wearing a costume.

My bias toward the OWS movement should be fairily obvious. Americans tired of corporate greed and the economic reality should be able to loudly protest and make the banks rethink actions, just as B of A did recently on their greedy little idea to charge for using debit cards.

 The question becomes is OWS the best way to protest? Is Occupy Oakland the best way?

I wrote about the recent Occupy Oakland general strike on the Asian American Legal Defense Fund blog: www.aaldef.org/blog

The city of Oakland it turns out has stalled on forming a resolution to support and “collaborate” with OO campers at Frank Ogawa Plaza, but mostly because the local group, just as the national group, is a leaderless, amorphous, venting operation subject to whatever loud voice prevails within. So when veterans join in, there are veterans marching. When the unions support the group, the call for a general strike is inevitable. When anarchists want to have a little fun, bring on the tear gas.

It makes civil disobedience and protest more of an improv. But as skilled improvers know, half the art is making people think you’re making it up as you go. There’s still a plan, a structure, a sense of a goal.  Do the Frank Ogawa plaza folks want to camp indefinitely?

I give some kudos to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan for trying to work things out with protestors. A resolution planned by the council to support the campers is the right thing, because if one occupies anything, the First Amendment should be top of the list.

But the politics is getting tricky as the general srike, marred by anarchists’ violence truly at the end of the day, has polarized the city.

The council couldn’t really vote on Thursday night after a majority of people expressed outrage at what appears to be a city giving in to the city. Some city officials were concerned that Oakland can’t afford to keep paying for the services and cleanup as a result of the continued encampment and protests.  Do they want to camp forever?  Before more people bail on the OO group, I hope someone comes up with a plan soon. It’s making one yearn for a little capitalist action. Perhaps they need a consultant?

A little venting as long as it stays non-violent is fun. But at some point, OWS/OO/OSF and all the rest need an exit plan?  Does it IPO like Groupon? Or pack up go home and spend the winter thinking of something a little more constructive–like campaigning for an alternative vision in 2012?

Or is that too mainstream and indirect?

www.aaldef.org/blog

 

Emil Guillermo's amok commentary on race, politics, diversity…and everything else. It's Emil Amok's Takeout!

Rss Feed Tweeter button Facebook button Reddit button Linkedin button Youtube button