Special thanks to Mike W. for title suggestions.
What a night, eh? Things were pretty wild around here as they were throughout the region and the state.
What's the coolest thing about radio? It can put you, the listener, in the party. Brad Linder was up in Bucks County at the Murphy and Warren campaigns and from the sounds of it, the Murphy people partied like it's 1999. Check it out. (Requires Real Player)
Meanwhile, Stephanie Marudas got to walk the long and winding 175th District and visit with Mike O'Brien, Ann Dicker and Terry Graboyes, each of whom had some pretty interesting things to say about their campaigns. (Also requires Real Player)
That race intrigues me. What does it mean that Dicker a progressive outsider, backed by some idealistic, young Simpsons fans beat Terry Graboyes who's been running television commercials since the Carter presidency and was backed by Ed Rendell, several city council people and Vince Fumo? She also came within a really big thunderstorm in Port Richmond of taking out Mike O'Brien who had several ward leaders and John Dougherty in his corner.
Can this performance translate citywide behind a viable, outsider candidate? Might there be a mayoral candidate or two who's still out there that we haven't even met yet? Once again, the floor is open to anyone who wants to suggest some unlikely, outsider candidates - Democrat, Republican, Independent, whatever.
Now, before we get all giddy about the downfall of the party machine let's remember that it looks like the machine was still able to beat the printed ballot itself with a write-in candidate. Has anyone heard anything more about the Payton-Vazquez race? Is it even legal to hand out stamps with a write-in candidate's name on them?
If anyone out there actually saw the stamp, did it have Vazquez's full name on it or just his last name? If the latter, how do we know which Vasquez people were voting for?
Comments (4)
I think the stamp is legal, as I've heard about others doing it, but you can not 'electioner' inside the polling place. You'd have to hand over the stamp outside, and the voter would have to carry it in themselves.
Posted by lutton | May 17, 2006 1:47 PM
Yes, I think the stamp is legal, and I'm sure that whoever had them made was smart enough to both make sure that it fit in the small dimensions of the write in box and printed the candidate's name in adequate detail.
As lutton said, though, doing any electioneering inside a polling place (or w/in 10ft of its entrance) is illegal.
What I was wondering in my earlier comment is what impact that has on the votes. It doesn't seem right to just invalidate peoples' votes because their judge of elections doesn't play by or enforce the rules. So it may be that the only recourse is legal action against the perpetrators, and unless Vazquez himself was breaking the law, the vote may stand.
But the last results you posted showed Payton down by 30 votes, with two divisions outstanding. I can't imagine that he wouldn't be able to find a way to legitimately challenge 30 write-in votes.
Posted by thomast | May 17, 2006 3:23 PM
you never know who they wrote in they could of took the stamp and wrote in howard stern you will never know till they do the count my bet is atleast 30 people wrote in another name just to mess it up my polling place get on avarge 4 write in an election you would have to look at that area to see if there have been a pattern of write ins in the past election.
Posted by mike | May 18, 2006 11:18 PM
so informative, thanks to tell us.
Posted by Esonjoycloppy | September 29, 2010 8:35 PM