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What Are "Provisional Ballots" (Counted Saturday Night) That Have Put 6th Dist. Write-In Candidate/Council Incumbent Andrews Within A Handful Of Votes Of Avoiding Runoff/Winning Election?


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(April 17, 2016, 5:25 p.m.) -- On Saturday night April 16, LB's City Clerk's office counted provisional ballots cast on Tuesday April 12. The results moved 6th district Council incumbent Dee Andrews, running a write-in campaign for a third four-year term under LB's term limits by pass procedure) from 48.97% of the vote with 949 votes to 49.86% of the vote with 1,038 ballots.

The provisional ballots boosted him to within a handful of votes of avoiding a runoff and winning a third four-year Council term outright. So...what's a provisional ballot? The CA Secretary of State's website states in pertinent part:

[Scroll down for further.


California law provides that any voter claiming to be properly registered, but whose qualifications cannot be immediately established upon examination of the list of registered voters for the precinct or the records on file with the county elections official, is entitled to cast a provisional ballot.

The elections official must advise voters of their right to cast a provisional ballot and must provide the voter with written instructions regarding the provisional voting process and procedures. State law requires people who vote a provisional ballot to execute, in the presence of the elections official, a written affirmation, stating that they are eligible to vote and are registered in the county where they desire to vote.

Provisional ballots are delivered, along with regular ballots, to the elections office canvassing area. Using the same procedures as used with vote-by-mail envelopes, the elections official compares the signature for the provisional ballot with the signature on that voter's affidavit of registration. If the signature does not match, the ballot is rejected. (Minor variation in signatures does not invalidate the ballot.) If the signature matches, the elections official checks the voter registration database to verify whether the voter is properly registered to vote. Once the signature on the envelope has been verified and the voter's registration is confirmed, the ballot is separated from the envelope and counted as a regular ballot. If the voter's registration cannot be confirmed, the ballot is not counted, and the reason for not counting the ballot is recorded. Only the votes for contests for which the voter is eligible to vote are counted.

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The 6th Council district, which was the only district with a qualified write-in candidate, had the highest percentage of provisional ballots per ballots cast among LB's three Council districts in this election cycle. The numbers below include ballots with "overvotes" (votes for two candidates) and ballots with "undervotes" (votes for no candidates or an invalid write-in ballot.)

  • 6th Council district: 212 provisional ballots cast out of 2,234 total ballots cast (9.49%).
  • 8th Council district: 226 provisional ballots cast out of 4,040 total ballots cast (5.55%).
  • 2nd Council district: 343 provisional ballots cast out of 4,620 total ballots cast (7.42%).

The 6th district also has the precinct with the largest number of provisional ballots cast in this Council election cycle -- 30 ballots from Precinct 3850138A (Atlantic to MLK Ave, Anaheim to PCH) comprising the McBride Park area where Councilman Andrews has his 6th district field office. (The next highest was Precinct 3850211A with 27 provisional ballots cast in the 2nd Council dist between Broadway, 4th St., Molino to Orizaba/Freeman.)

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Under a Sacramento-enacted statute that became effective in 2012, write-in ballots that weren't counted initially because they failed to strictly comply with write-in rules (voter must fill-in a ballot "bubble" and properly name the write-in candidate) are technically "undervotes" that can be counted in a subsequent hand tally of ballots under certain circumstances:

[Elections Code section 15342(F)(1)(A)] In the case of a primary election or a special election, the sum of the total number of votes cast for the write-in candidate and the total number of undervotes cast for the office but not examined pursuant to a hand tally is equal to or greater than the total number of votes cast for the candidate receiving the second highest number of votes for that office.

[Elections Code section 15342(F)(1)(C)(3)] In conducting a hand tally pursuant to this subdivision, the elections official shall count a vote for the office if the intent of the voter can be determined, regardless of whether the voter has complied with the voting instructions. The elections official shall include the results of a hand tally conducted pursuant to this subdivision in the official canvass of the election.

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The 6th Council district had 144 ballots with "undervotes" (and one can reasonably speculate that many of these involved attempted write-ins in which the voter may have failed to fill in the ballot line "bubble" or mangled the spelling of Councilman Andrews' name.)

The provisional ballots counted on Saturday night April 16 put Councilman Andrews numerically within striking distance of avoiding a runoff and winning the 6th district election outright if he receives just a handful of the 144 "undervotes" which would be examined in subsequent hand-tally...and we're told the Andrews campaign has requested such a hand-tally.

Erik Miller, who finished second to Councilman Andrews with 26.71% of the vote (556 votes) was anticipating a June runoff with the incumbent. He told LBREPORT.com on Sunday afternoon (April 17) that he's aware of what is taking place is watching the process as it plays out.

LBREPORT.com presumes the hand tally will take place early in the coming week, perhaps as early as Monday [we don't have a date or time for now.]

Stay with LBREPORT.com as we continue to follow unfolding developments in this race...whose outcome (as in all Council district races) will affect residents citywide since each Councilmember has co-equal citywide voting power on policy matters including budget priorities, spending items, land use approvals, proposed developments and other City policies. (LB's Mayor has no voting power, only a veto which six Councilmembers can override.)



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