3,452 ballots that didn't count
We've been noodling around with the now-official results from the November 2 elections, and we see that in the race we followed most closely, Metro president, Tom Hughes officially defeated Bob Stacey by 1,003 votes out of 393,885 cast for the two of them. That's a margin of only 0.25%.
Another interesting statistic that we've compiled is the difference between the actual number of ballots counted in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington Counties and the number of ballots that the Oregon Secretary of State was showing as having been received on November 5, three days after the election:
Where did all those received, uncounted ballots go, and why? In a race as close as Hughes vs. Stacey, it's a question worth asking. Presumably some were challenged for irregularities, but where did that slippery Secretary of State "ballots returned" number (which changed daily for a while) come from, anyway?
It's also interesting to note the percentages of "returned" ballots that the uncounted ones represented in each county. In Multnomah County, the uncounted were 0.76% of returned; in Clackamas County, only 0.25%; and in Washington County, 0.46%. Is Multnomah County three times as finicky as Clackamas County?
We trust our knowledgeable readers will have answers for us.
| Posted at 8:45 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (5)
I sent in my Washington County ballot in plenty of time and a few days before election day I got a letter saying my signature did not match what they had on file and I had to come to the election office and verify my signature. I went down the Friday before the election, completed a new voter registration and they said it would be counted. The letter I got gave a deadline to come in and I believe it was about 2 weeks after election day.
It might be noted, I was able to walk in and re-register without showing any ID. Good to know if I die, someone else can continue voting for me.
Posted by anthony | November 29, 2010 10:34 AM
It probably isn't too big of a deal since even though it was close assuming that the uncounted votes were generally around the same splits by county as the counted votes Stacey still would not have pulled it out.
Posted by Econoline | November 29, 2010 2:03 PM
There was some press about ballots being returned to the wrong county, then being transfered for counting. You would think that would pick-up on the other after counting.
Posted by Doubting Thomas | November 29, 2010 2:04 PM
My Mult Co ballot was returned because they didn't think signature matched. All could have been avoided if not for vote by mail, which I loathe.
Posted by dm | November 29, 2010 3:28 PM
My vote for Stacy didn't count because my wife signed my ballot by mistake. She signed hers too, so her vote for Hughes counted. See what she did there?
Posted by Craig | November 30, 2010 4:28 PM