Jack,

It takes time to properly fix an election. You don't want them to half-ass it, do you?

Thanks Jack. I just mentioned this to someone a few moments ago. It's not like they didn't know this was comin'

Whats up?

There's a new crew running the Multnomah elections bureau -- that probably has something to do with it.

If we want the rest of the country to take a look at mail-in ballots we have to make it slicker than this.
What if the presidential election had come down to Oregon? We'd be letting down the whole nation.

Marion County officials said last night that "humidity" was slowing things down. WTF. Someone also said something about "wet ballots" being a problem.

Slobbered chads.

Bill, did you sign Tensky's name by accident?

I heard something on the radio about their office being flooded this morning...sounds awfully convenient.

Jack - We do have a mail in election system, but people are also able to drop off ballots in person. People may also choose to wait until the last moment. Yesterday, Multnomah County received over 80,000 ballots, a record for one day - by far. The counting of ballots commenced as soon as able under state statute, and all six of our ballot machines have been counting since then. The counting continues, it is all being done with observers from both parties watching. The new elections director has done an outstanding job.

PS - Gibby - the elections office was flooded. The ballots were moved, none were damaged, and it has had no impact on the counting. Again, observers from both parties watch everything that has anything to do with the ballots.

Ted, I never expressed any concern about the integrity of the count, only the time it was taking to get there. But thanks for the explanation.

"... if the presidential election had come down to Oregon? We'd be letting down the whole nation."

You misspelled 'wetting.'

Ted Wheeler:
If it is a record to get 80,000 in the last day, it isn't a record by very much. The trend has been later and later turn in. Between 13 and 20 percent come in the last day over the last 5 elections.

Even with a higher registration base this time, the last day turn in could not be a record by more than 10-15,000 ballots.

In other words - that is no excuse! SIX ballot machines? Go borrow one from one of the counties that has their s*** together and have finished!

Obama is amazing!
He has Tensky posting 2 and 3 word comments.

Deciding not to count the ballots in a basement that tends to flood when it rains should have been an easy decision in Oregon in November.

Did the count take this long last time?

Ted Wheeler: Thanks for coming here in person and providing a rational explanation.

Everyone else: "Waaaah! But I want everything right NOW!!!"

Slobbered Chads would make a great name for a rock band.

According to its website, Multnomah County Elections counted 7,648 ballots between 2 and 3 p.m. today. There are 138,911 ballots yet to be counted. At that rate, it will be another 18 hours before the ballots are counted in this county.

Does anyone find this acceptable? Is there any county in the nation that still has more than a third of its ballots uncounted, 19 hours after the polls closed?

Darcy Burner's race for Washington's 8th Congressional District may prove to take even longer.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/5/16261/2073/91/654867

The basement does not tend to flood.

Counties that have 1/3 or 1/4 as many ballots as MC to count do not necessarily have their $XIT together.

We are trying to borrow machines, but it is not likely.

The counting is no slower than previous general elections. Other large counties across the nation are still counting, including some where the polls closed earlier.

The machines we have, all six, are operational, have been since the count started, and process about 1,000 ballots per hour each. They cannot be sped up.

The people who do the work are doing a great job, are working hard, and take their work seriously.

Ted,

So some simple math tells us that it will take a total of about 60 hours to count all the ballots. That's 2 and a half days, assuming that the machines run perfectly all day every day with no down time...

(Turn out of 360,551 divided by 1,000/hour/machine divided by 6 machines.)

If you wanted results in 24 hours, you would need 15 machines that ran at that speed.

"The counting is no slower than previous general elections."

Oh well never mind then?
Geeze, what that tells us is they knew all along it would take this long and did NOTHING about it.

Did they have a meeting many months ago and decide that course of non-action?

And they agreed then to just tell people they are woroking as fast as they can and it's no slower than before?

It's 2008.
Exactly when can the electorate expect to know the results on election day in Multonmoah county?
2010, 2012, 2028?

Or is it just too complex to explain?

I'm sure he'll be happy to buy more machines if you guys are willing to pay for them.

[crickets]

Oh, well. I can wait.

Why not use some of that "voter owned clean money".

Ben - Of course we should do better. I'm just saying this is not a new issue that just cropped up in this election cycle. My guess is that you will know the results of almost all of the races by the time you go to bed tonight...

If two months ago Multnomah County said they were going to spend money on new election machines I bet most of you would have been crying and moaning about it being a waste of money.

In the end, all the ballots will be counted and there will be plenty of time for the transition from Smith to Merkley to take place. That is all that really matters.

The question that intrigues me is this: if so few ballots in Multnomah County were counted on election day, how could the results of the local races be known that evening?

check

I've heard there's been some flooding in the basement at MultCo election HQ. That might possibly slow things down a bit as well. Just a thought.