September 10, 2008
Morning Roundup: Puzzling Primary Edition
Good morning, Washington. The polls are long since closed, and if you didn't read our coverage as it happened, feel free to do so now. You can also check out the official results, or the Post's coverage. Although...
Irregularities in Primaries: ...you might not want to regard those numbers as completely final just yet. A number of irregularities have emerged, as CityDesk explains.
One of the affected races is the Schwartz/Mara Republican primary matchup. Schwartz has conceded (and ruled out a write-in campaign), but things aren't quite over. The Post's D.C. Wire blog is reporting that there are irregularities related to the ballot count, with more votes having been cast than the number of Republicans believed to have voted than there are Republicans in the city. Only registered Republicans can vote in that party's primary, and the race between Schwartz and Mara included the latter painting Schwartz as a Democrat in all but name. So if non-Republicans improperly voted in the election, odds are good that they cast their ballots for Schwartz, meaning that, if anything, when they're thrown out Mara's margin of victory will expand and the race's final result won't change. Still, this will have to be sorted out before things can be considered final in the GOP at-large council race.
Similar problems seem to have occurred with the Evans/Silverman race, but neither candidate has conceded in that contest, leaving things a bit more up in the air (although the BOEE tallies give Evans a nearly 2:1 lead as of this writing). The CP account points to a faulty optical scan machine, while the Post's coverage indicates that an unusually high number of write-in votes may be to blame for the confusion. We imagine the final explanation may not arrive until later today.
Lanier Testifies Before House: The Post reports on MPD Chief Cathy Lanier's appearance before the House yesterday, during which she testified against a bill currently under consideration which would gut the city's gun control restrictions. In particular, Lanier expressed the belief that the bill would allow the carrying of semiautomatic rifles — a conclusion supported by a House committee but contradicted by the NRA — which she said would make it difficult to secure events like the inauguration. The article also carries Rep. Henry Waxman's allegation that the Bush administration prevented the Secret Service and Marshals Service from testifying against the bill.
Briefly Noted: State's attorney still waiting on final Ronnie White autopsy report... Montgomery County law prohibiting discrimination against transgendered survives challenge, now in effect... Few arrestees prove to be illegal immigrants under Prince Williams County policy... Member of Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Board of Directors protesting the monument... Armed man arrested on Capitol Hill says he was there to help...
This Day In DCist: One year ago we found an ode to the Chinatown bus and the taxi meter vote loomed.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user philliefan99
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How many times do we have to repeat to the voters that being a registered member of the Silly Party doesn't mean you can vote in the Slightly Silly primary?
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Good to see the bloodthirsty cannibal necrophile of Ward 8 won by a landslide. To understand why he's is still on the Council, you really have to go all the way back to 1965. The Beatles were playing Shea Stadium (named after Cuban revolutionary, Shea Stadium). The Velvet Undeground were playing its first gigs. And a young firebrand with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee named Marion Barry was leading a civil rights march when he encountered three witches who told him that he would be Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, Ward 8 councilman, and Mayor of DC. Flash forward to 1977, when members of the Hanafi muslim sect storm City Hall in protest of the film "Muhammed Messenger of God" and wound Barry in a shootout. Shortly thereafter, Barry deposes Mayor Walter "Duncan" Washington in a palace coup. The bloody reign of Macbarry would witness the streets run red with the gore of the crack epidemic. But as the legend fortold, "none of woman born shall harm Macbarry." Enter c-section-born Sharon Pratt Macduff Kelly, whose reign was brief, leaving the final prophecy to be fulfulled: "never vanquish'd be Macbarry until Great Birnam Crackpipe to High Vista Hotel shall come to set that bitch up." And as any crackhead worth his rock will tell you, never say his name when you're in the crackhouse. It's bad luck.
You always refer to him as "the District tragedy."
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Whenever I vote they have my current address and my address from a few years ago right next to each other in the book. Every time I tell them to take it off but they never do.
So I asked the lady if I'm allowed to come back and vote again with my other name/address combo and she made some comment about calling the police so I just let it go.
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These three guys should really be walking. Well at least they are not wearing Jorts...These must be northeaster elitist tourist.
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I can't wait to get my hands on one of those semiautomatic rifles so I can use those City Segway Tours as target practice! Those people are so annoying!!!
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tom: who's to say that, if there are a lot of votes in the republican race that aren't legit, they'd be for schwartz? why wouldn't it be equally likely that they would be for mara, placed unscrupulously by the CoC set?
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oh, and bravo to chief lanier for playing the terrorism card WRT the gun laws in the district. i'm sure that gave the goons on a hill a warm feeling in their hearts (and pants).
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Check the transit thread from yesterday, IMGoph.
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Chapter 28 in "Reid's Crusade to End Primary Elections for Local Office" wherein the question of turnout is discussed:
Yesterday had two genuinely competitive races for Council: Ward 2 Democrats and Republican at-large. And how many people actually showed up?
For Republicans (ignoring the overcounted write-ins) 3,717 showed up. That's just 13% of registered Republicans. For comparison, 6,292 Republicans voted in the DC Republican Presidential Primary last February. 21,000 voted for George W. Bush in 2004. There are roughly 30,000 registered Republicans. So the one time their vote could actually matter they stayed home.
Ward 2 Democrats aren't much better. Yesterday 4,000 voted (ignoring the phantom 5,000). That's out of a population of roughly 30,000 registered Democrats in Ward 2. In February, DC Democrats showed up with a 44% turnout for a primary with a foregone conclusion. In 2004, 54% of the electorate came out to vote in the general election, which was just about the most foregone conclusion this side of Sadam Hussein's 2002 "reelection".
What does this all mean? It means DC citizens do not show to vote in primaries despite the fact that they are the de facto general election. For whatever reason, the only time DC citizens show up in large numbers to the polls is when there is an election of national importance on the same day. Therefore, in the interest of increasing democratic participation, we must eliminate party primaries and move to a wide open general election with ranked voting and instant runoffs.
Primaries exist to protect parties, not people. Ranked voting with instant runoffs will produce a council that better reflects the actual preferences of our citizenry, not just those few party members who come out to vote in the middle of September.
Stay tuned for Chapter 29, wherein the concept of open primaries is discussed and ultimately rejected.
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yay, wizzyliz! talking about shooting people is funny!
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Since the Crips took over the Mall, just make the Segway people wear red bandanas and the problem takes care of itself.
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If Lanier wants to settle the whole gun regulation issue, why don't they have a duel or some kind of shooting contest. Since this is all about guns, it would be appropriate. Whoever wins, gets to decide on which law to use.
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"Visigoths stand to our left, Huns to our right, what say you Caesar? Shall I order the attack?"
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DC est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt "rich white honkeys," aliam "straight-up gangsta g's," tertiam qui ipsorum lingua "fractured ebonics," nostra "hiptards" appellantur.
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Damn foreign monkeys.
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Wilfordus Brimlius, responds: ttack-ay one-anay at-thay ot-nay a ember-may of RP-AyAy. And watch our for At-ATs.
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IMGoph: You're right of course, if this is orchestrated fraud then the proper tally may be closer in Schwartz's favor. But the simplest explanation is that non-Republicans participated in the primary, in which case one could reasonably expect the removal of those votes to favor Mara.
None of this is likely to change the outcome, of course. Mara had a significant lead in earlier polls, and Schwartz doesn't seem to have any desire to fight this one out. Mara and Evans are almost certainly going to remain in the winners' circle, but it'll be interesting to see what accounts for last night's vote tally weirdness.
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Chief Lanier's hyperobole on carrying automatic weapons and terrorism scare language sounds more like Bush's WMD than responsible comment.
If DC hadn't had an absurd, draconian and blatantly unconstitutional gun law this never would have been an issue.
The criminals have always had guns in DC.
There are plenty of reasonable people who are not opposed to gun control, but are fed up with gun prohibition based on BS
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I dunno. Thirty years of dealing with vandals and Visigoths using nothing but harsh language seems to have worked out nicely. But we're in trouble when DC gets invaded by Atilla the Nun. By which I mean the Pope.
Peace,
+++JMJ+++
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Can we please round up the 4,101 idiots who voted for Marion Barry and send them to the bottom of the Anacostia? At least Hitler didn't get it on with, cook, and then eat babies.
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Vote early, vote often.
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reid: you've sold me. i always hated the closed party primaries anyway. consider me a foot soldier in your army...
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congrats, virginia is for losers, i think you've invented a new variation on godwin's law!
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This might be a little off the topic, but I have heard a rumor that everyone who works at the NRA is required to memorize the dialog for "Red Dawn."
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Monkey:
Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt. Hiptards ab Rich White Honkeys Rock Creek flumen, a Gangstas Anacostia et Georgia Avenue dividit.
Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Gangstas, propterea quod a cultu atque humanitate Brickskeller longissime absunt, minimeque ad eos sit-down restaurants saepe commeant atque ea quae ad mumbo sauce pertinent important sola; proximique sunt Prince George’s County, qui trans Eastern Avenue incolunt, quibuscum continenter “beefing” gerunt.
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"Red Dawn" could happen. One day you could look out your window at work and see paratroopers fall from the sky and hold everyone hostage. Those darn Russians! We will fight to the finish! You can't kill Thomas C. Howell or Jennifer Gray without reprecussions.
Wait, what year is this again?
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ClevelandRocks- Only in rural states. In urban centers, it's The Wire or, for the oldsters, Escape From New York
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The story about the guy who got caught with an AK and grenades on the mall is a classic. "What? This assault rifle? Grenades? Uh...I just brought them for you, officer, in case...uh...there's a secret society that attacks the capitol...yeah, that's the ticket..."
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***Correction needs to be made:
DCist says: ""with more votes having been cast than there are Republicans in the city."
DC Wire says "with more votes---including 1,560 write-ins---showing up than the number of registered Republicans believed to have voted in the election."
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The Anacostia is already full of lobbyists who were flushed down the toilet when they were young. You want them breeding with Barry voters? You'd end up with a river full of snakeheads who check under their beds for racists before they go to sleep.
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Quando para mucho mi amore de felice corazón
Mundo paparazzi mi amore chicka ferdy parasol
Presto OBRIGADO tanta mucho cake and eat it carousel
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in the end, eh, big deal, they're republicans. who cares?
i KEED! i KEEED!
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RIP Tater Salad :(
oh, not THAT Ronnie White.....
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So the Jury's still out on Red Dawn, but I know for a fact that they plan to refilm many of the classics (Ben-Hur, Ten Commandments, Greatest Story Ever Told, Omega Man) with semi-automatic weapons. Just to make their point that it's not the guns but some people with the guns that are dangerous.
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Is it necessary for some of you to practice your Starbucks orders here? Really now.
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If they did a remake of "Gone with the Wind" with semi-automatics, the south would rise to face another day and Scarlett would be its leader.
"What Happened to Baby Jane" would be much more entertaining if Betty Davis took out Joan Crawform with a semi-automatic. That would show who is boss!
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So the NRA is remaking Charleton Heston movies? If there's one thing that El Cid and The Agony and the Ecstasy needed, it's more firepower.
"Michelangelo! When you will make an end?"
"When I am finished!"
[empties Glock into Rex Harrison, filling Sistine Chapel with hot brass]
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alewis: correction made.
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i don't know, the security guards at the sistine chapel seemed like they were tough enough to have bullets bounce off their chests. i'd be scared in a fight with them even if i was armed.
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Well, you can hardly blame them for trying. Their other big project is to re-edit the Wire replacing guns with feather dusters. the blood and guts will remain the same, except that it will be a result of lethal feather dusters. They'll be pistol dusters, folding stock Tec-9 dusters, Omar will have a sawn-off feather under his duster. The point being that any object can be deadly in the wrong hands.
I'm not sure how they plan to confront the existential sangfroid of dusting for prints on a feather duster, however.
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Heh heh...via Marc "Raw" Fisher, looks like Frank Winstead, aka Winzilla, the White Business Killa, will face a challenger
this November.