With the mail-in ballots all counted, Westminster City Council candidate Truong Diep is still in third place. On Friday, Diep made up only 6 votes, garnering 28 to second-place winner Penny Loomer’s 22.
The Registrar’s office is moving on the election-day paper ballots and the provisional ballots.(*)
Anyway, so some people have been saying that all this is pointless because an election this close will surely end up in a recount. So, what does it matter who’s leading, right?
Wrong.
Many states have election laws that say, if the election is extremely close – usually set at 0.5% difference or less – then the voting authorities will conduct an automatic recount.
Not California. You can have an election decided by 1 vote out of 100,000, and there’s no recount unless someone requests it.
Any California voter, whether or not a resident of the area affected by the vote, can request a recount, for any and no reason.
The person making the request can specify the order in which the precincts will be recounted.
But whoever makes the request must pay for it.
This becomes the great gamesmanship of recount calculus. Will you spend thousands on a recount that will make no changes? And if you do, which order of recount will you request?
A candidate who loses a close race and suspects that he will gain more vote than his opponent in, say, the East side, will request that those precincts be recounted first. As soon as he catches up, he can call off the recount, and it will stop right then and there, making him the winner. (BTW, like the NFL’s instant-replay rule, if a recount changes the result, then the requestor doesn’t have to pay.)
His winning opponent can also do the same, with a different order of precincts to be counted. Theoretically there can potentially be two recounts going on at the same time. But, a recount is very risky for the winner, with everything to lose and very little to gain.
A recount in Westminster, depending when it is stopped, may cost anywhere between $3000 and $6000.
The big question now is, will Diep go for it?
(*) Provisional ballots are ballots cast by people who showed up and there’s something wrong, like their names are not on the voter roll, or they already requested a mail-in ballot and then showed up at the polling booth anyway. Instead of turning people away, poll workers give them a provisional ballot. These must first be verified to make sure the person is eligible to vote, that there’s no double-voting, etc. before they count.
Election-day paper ballots are from people who came to the polling station but didn’t want to deal with the machines and voted with a paper ballot instead. What’s funny about these ballots is that the Registrar’s office calls it the “eday ballot” and the “e” prefix (which stands for “election”) makes it sound like something electronic, not paper.
@C.Vo
What do you mean by ” … I’m not qualified …” ? Did you forget that I have won the council woman seat ? People voted for me, remember? Also, what mistakes were you referring to, may I ask ? As far as I know, I don’t make mistake !
Yeah.. Janet, and your @@@@ don’t stink!
Tell us, Jung Kim. Do you have a link from a trustworthy news source to substantiate your claim? Really?
I hate scum balls using someone’s personal names in our blog… ie., Roxanne, Van Tran and Dina Nguyen.
They need to be fried and dried in the chinese restaurant. Very low class ball lickers!
Tien Huynh was right about your kind, Jung Kim, accusing people without proof. Jung Kim and friends use other tactics to discredit others but not clever enough, so they are upset for being beaten by Democrats.
CDE……………only link you need is made sonething out of your large intestine design to feed pigs!
Why don’t you live with some trust worthy reporter. A truly low intelligence benedict!
Go Art go! Go Art go!
CDE, the fabricated proof is……………………yeah, it’s a simple fraud!
Using some person’s name behind the screen is a crime!
All I know is that it ain’t me. Go find Art, like you said yesterday.
For all of you IDIOTS on this post, Roxanne is my name. I don’t recall stating my last name so for whoever assumed that it was Chow, must be pretty stupid. What… do you actually think that there is only one Roxanne in the world or is only one C.Vo out there ? Come on people, before posting your comment, do some thinking would you ?
And another thing, just because the link was old new, do you absolutely sure that everyone on this post knew about it ? Those that have no idea about these dirty politicians it would be a good info for them so they could use their votes more wisely in the future .
Art is attending his city council meeting…….in the parking lot.
Sorry Art for losing election!
Jung Kim is the idiot who added Chow to the Roxanne. Stupid moron!
CDE, put your finger where it belong….. deep inside of your own throat.
You potato face!
Jung Kim, how do we know that you are not Art Pedroza and a communist spy and an anti-Viet community saboteur? You are all over the place and a threat to Little Saigon and your leader.
Who is my leader? You ding dong stew brain? I am the guru.
Read my postings and you know Art Pedroza is in my “dirt” list.
I hope all the Viets in the US can read your entries here, Jung Kim, and see why you and your friends put the rest of us to shame.
you want to talk about CORRUPTIONS? Try calling the WEstminster Police Department and ask about Quan Nhau Cytrist and how Tyler Truong Diep is involve. Ask them why the owner their was charged with a misdemeanor by the DA’s office. BOLSAVIK, I suggest you do some digging. Looks to me like he’s learned it well from the big boss how to “shake down” local businesses… TYLER TRUONG DIEP, YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!!! AS FOR DINA, SHE’S NO DIFFERENCE. YOU KNOW WHY SHE WOULD APPOINT A THUG LIKE BRUCE TRAN OF VHNTV? HE’S ANOTHER GANGSTER AND A THIEF (HE TRIED TO STEAL THE TV STATION FROM QUOC THAI BUT LOST THE LAW SUIT AND NOW OWES QUOC THAI CLOSE TO $400,000). THIS IS AS DISHONEST AS IT GETS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, NEXT TIME YOU CAST YOUR VOTE FOR ANOTHER VIET, THINK TWICE.
:p :p :p can you blame us ? We’ve learned from the best but give me another 4 years and I bet you I could be way better than Him !