L.A. County Registrar Prepares to NOT Count Thousands of 'Double Bubble' Ballots from Super Tuesday's Democratic Primary

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

New Planned Method for Counting Uncounted Non-Partisan Crossover Ballots, as Proposed by Dean Logan in Response to Sec. of State's Request, Will Needlessly Disenfranchise Thousands of Legal Voters

By Brad Friedman
The BRAD BLOG

SoS Bowen Must Intervene Again to Assure All Votes That Can be Counted ARE Counted...

I hate to counter the adulation of so many of the good groups out there claiming "victory" and "a happy ending" yesterday in the "Double Bubble" ballot dispute in Los Angeles County, but I must. The "victory" they are now referring to, with the best of intentions, as "Great news!" is much less than it appears. Though if you don't look closely, it might otherwise look like a "victory." Unfortunately, it isn't.

Unless something changes, and quickly, Los Angeles County's acting Registrar of Voters Dean Logan is preparing to disenfranchise thousands of voters who cast legal ballots in the Super Tuesday Democratic primary election.

In the 3-page letter [PDF] sent by Logan to CA Sec. of State Debra Bowen yesterday, the recently-arrived, but still-befuddled, county clerk details how he now plans to potentially toss out thousands of votes, while inappropriately awarding disproportionate votes in favor of only some candidates, in response to the "Double Bubble" ballot debacle reported by The BRAD BLOG (most recently here), in great detail previously...

Some weeks ago Logan asserted it would be "impossible to determine" the intent of tens of thousands of ballots cast in the state's open Democratic primary in a way that would ensure voter intent was recorded accurately. Thankfully, he has now amended his position, after a directive from Bowen, claiming he can count some, but not all of them. To carry out his latest ill-conceived scheme, he has now devised a ridiculous method to count what he inaccurately describes as, "all votes where the voter intent can be reasonably and legally determined."

That's a small step up from his previous unsupportable position, but still seriously flawed and still failing the voters of the country's most populous county.