Vote Recounts
The following Letter to the Editor appeared in the January 11, 2006 editiion of the Half Moon Bay Review. It describes the differences seen by an observer in two different recounts.
I participated as an observer of San Mateo County Elections on two very different re-counts, for the Half Moon Bay City Council and for the protest of the annexation of western San Mateo County by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD).
The Council re-count is governed by the California Elections Code and Warren Slocum and the staff of SMC Elections went to great lengths to interpret the intent of every voter and included as many of the votes cast as was possible. That is good and in accord with the law.
The MROSD annexation and protest process is the responsibility of the SMC Local Agency Formation Commission, who delegated the protest count and re-count to SMC Elections. LAFCO directed Elections to perform a protest count and then a recount applying five specific sections of the California Government Code. The staff of the SMC Elections went to great lengths to analyze, interpret, and even add sections from non-relevant Codes to exclude many protests. Scores of initial “insufficient” protests were later found to be valid in a re-count ordered by Superior Court Judge Forcum.
In July 2004 SMC Superior Court Judge Mark Forcum stated regarding the first protest re-count “People’s right to be heard, people’s right to have their votes counted is fundamental to the way our country works. These rights should not be ignored by a narrow interpretation of the government code.”
Plaintiffs initiated a validation lawsuit against LAFCO, that indicates hundreds of additional valid protests have been incorrectly deemed “insufficient” by SMC Elections.
What is the message? Government, at all levels, is bound by the same laws that apply to us citizens. It is our job as citizens to ensure that government follows the law.
Terry Gossett
Californians for Property Rights
Moss Beach