“Legal votes”

A little bit of Florida comes to San Diego:

More people voted in the San Diego mayor’s race for write-in candidate Donna Frye than for Mayor Dick Murphy, according to a review yesterday of disputed ballots, but it would take court action for her to be declared the winner.

At the end of a full day of ballot examination, county elections workers at a warehouse in Kearny Mesa had reviewed 4,854 ballots cast for Frye that were not included in the official results of the Nov. 2 election.

Those numbers alone, likely to rise as the ballot review continues today, would put Frye 2,746 votes above Murphy’s official total.

The ballots were disqualified because voters who wrote in Frye’s name did not fill in a corresponding bubble, a requirement of state election law.

[…]

Murphy brushed off the disputed ballots yesterday as “illegal votes” and reminded the public that his election victory had been certified.

“To me, it’s clear that I am the legitimate mayor,” Murphy said at a City Hall news conference. “I got the most legal votes. That’s the way it works in America.”

…except:

Voters who put an ‘x’ in the bubble for Murphy had their votes counted even though the law states that the bubble must be filled in. Murphy who has been a below-par mayor (in a city that has grown famous for them…don’t even get me started on Susan Golding) is in danger of becoming a lame duck local joke. Supporters for Murphy state that a voter who wrote Donna Frye’s name on the ballot but didn’t fill in the bubble may not have wanted to vote for her, but wanted to see what her name looked like on the ballot with Murphy’s and Ron Roberts’.

No. Really. They actually say things like that.

Disclaimer: I know Donna Frye. We worked together to keep a group of dog owners from taking over a portion of Kate Session’s in Pacific Beachpark for a fenced-in dog park, therefore I more than a little biased in her favor.