Election Update

I’m going to withhold further commentary until at least tomorrow (Friday) when the final results are announced by the Maricopa County elections folks. Until then:

From Scottsdale City Clerk Carolyn Jagger,

Maricopa County estimates that there are approximately 1,822 Scottsdale Early Ballots to be counted, and approximately 350 total (Tempe, Scottsdale, and Gila Bend) Provisional Ballots to be counted.  Voters who voted a provisional ballot have until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 16, to provide the necessary identification and have their ballots counted.  I anticipate that final election results will be issued shortly after 5:00 p.m. on Friday.

From City Councilman Bob Littlefield,

This is good news.  Even if these 1822 ballots voted in the same percentages as the early ballots (which broke FOR Prop 430 51.10% to 48.90%) in the end it would defeated.  Since these were turned in on election day it is more likely they will break in the same way as the election day ballots (which broke AGAINST Prop 430 81.54% to 18.46%) which would increase our margin of victory.

One other interesting statistic, the early ballots broke FOR the SW Gas tax 70.88% to 29.12%, but the election day ballots broke AGAINST the SW Gas tax 51.37% to 48.63%.  So it would appear that the TV commercials Lisa and I did (along with, to be fair, McCullagh’s My Turn) had some impact.

Maybe my earlier posts about, “Too Dumb for Democracy,” and “Bounty + Apathy = Low Voter Turnout,” weren’t entirely accurate.

Until tomorrow, I leave you with a bit of headline humor: