As of today, the San Diego, CA Mayoralty still hasn't been decided. In case this hasn't made news outside of Southern California, here's what's gotten the election this far: The March primary election saw the top-two vote winners for the Mayoralty go to two relatively conservative men; sitting mayor Dick Murphy, and county supervisor Ron Roberts. Five weeks before election day, liberal city councilwoman and erstwhile surf-shop owner Donna Frey bows to community pressure and throws her name in the ring as a write-in candidate. Election day comes and guess what: it looks as though Frey has either won or is really, really close. Third-place Roberts bows out. A challenge was made to the entire election, saying that having a three-way race at the November general election was against city law. That challenge was thrown out, reason given that it should have been made when Frey's candidacy was authorized, not after the election. Fast-forward a couple of days, and it now looks as though Murphy has won, by 2205 votes. But wait -- now the League of Women Voters is asking for an injunction stopping county Registrar of Voters Sally McPherson from certifying the election, because she has not counted write-in votes that listed a name (presumably most would go to Frey) but did not fill in the oval next to the write-in field. LWV is claiming that this goes against the clear will of the voter. Latest from Yahoo! news here. www.signonsandiego.com is the website of the local paper, and has a more complete history of the election. I'm not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, it's pretty clear who a voter is asking to see in office when he or she leaves the rest of the field blank and writes in the name of a publicized write-in candidate. On the other hand, if the positions were switched, would I be all about the "will of the people", or would I want a victory by technicality? I don't live there anymore, but it would be good to a) see the woman whom I know as San Diego's Queen of the Left in the city's highest office, and b) see Dick Murphy, who by most accounts has been a dreadful, scandal-ridden, wishy-washy mayor thrown out on his ear. In any event, it's the last election hijinks of the season, so it's good viewing for politics junkies like most regular denizens of this board. Enjoy.
Before I went off to work in Spain, I sent my absentee ballot in and I wrote in Donna's name (and checked the box for write in!). Hope she pulls it off! Murphy is wretched but is probably still better than that fool Roberts. But it would be great to see an insurgent candidate like Donna Frye take the mayorship. Power to the people!
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/10256886.htm?1c Done and done. Judge refuses to hear the LWV case. Your winner, and still champeen, Dick Murphy.
in every damn little bit of seriousness, i'd do anything short of violence to get Donna in as Mayor if she asked me to. her losing, to me anyway, has become even worse than Kerry's loss. if u'd lived in san diego for as long as i have, u'd know what i mean.
Silver lining possibility: perhaps this sets Donna up nicely for something on the state level. I'm not familiar with internal DP of SD politics -- perhaps Flash knows: Is there anyone she's tied to, in a Susan Davis --> Dede Alpert --> Christine Kehoe --> Toni Atkins kind of way? With all the noteriety she's gotten as a result of her write-in, she might do well in Kehoe's district (OB, MB, Pt Loma, Hillcrest, North Park).