Way to go Weber and Davis counties! We couldn't quite get the moderate Republican candidates over the hump at the county convention here to even hold primary elections, but two challengers from the northern Wasatch Front beat out two of the same ol' pack of far-right, voucher/omnibus/stadium, power-abusing crowd in the legislature.
Ryan Wilcox surprisingly put the hurt on Glen Donnelson with 61% of the vote.
http://electionresults.utah.gov/xmlData/29000.html
And Becky Edwards pulled out a close one with Paul Neuenschwander.
http://electionresults.utah.gov/xmlData/30006.html
And most satisfyingly, though still scratching my head on how this even happened, Richard Ellis defeated Mark Walker for the Republican nomination for State Treasurer with 59% of the vote.
http://electionresults.utah.gov/xmlData/30000.html
I still can't figure out exactly why all of the leadership was gunning for the treasurer position. I hope word leaks on what proposals they were considering that would require the acquiescence of a 32-yr-old salesman managing 12 billion dollars of state investment funds without even being able to accurately understand (about half way through his long interview) basic investment concepts.
The whole bribe thing was a sideshow, though it does show how desperate Walker was for the help of the qualified man he was criticizing. Seriously...what were they thinking? I'm sure Speaker Curtis, President Valentine, and Attorney General Shurtleff would not allow Walker to manage their personal portfolios, so why allow him to manage the state's multi-billion dollar portfolio?
Showing posts with label primary elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label primary elections. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
My first political convention and a few first-person tidbits of interest
“Wow!” was the first thought I had as I approached Orem High on foot after parking a block away. I wish that I had brought my camera. There were hundreds of signs covering every available inch of lawn and fence space. David Leavitt made an extra special effort to completely cover the school’s lawn as well as the fence of the neighboring house (assumably with permission). I really hadn’t understood what a spectacle the convention would be. Very interesting. I grabbed a donut and milk from one of the 3rd district candidate tables out front, had the doors held open for me by young men wearing Leavitt stickers, politely refused a Bramble ID badge lanyard, and then got my ID and info packet from the sign-in table.
It was crowded and interesting. I ran into two old BYU friends. They were both first-time delegates also, but even greener than I was last Fall in terms of political awareness. One found out I was now a teacher as I expressed my disagreements with the Parents for Choice in Education booth nearby. She immediately said “Oh. Then I’m against you. I teach at a charter school.” This surprised and saddened me. I think there are funding issues with charter vs. public schools as well, but I’m not opposed to them and vouchers would rob both. I told her why I was surprised and that I thought the problem was more about elements of the legislature setting us against each other over funding. We both recounted stories of funding snafus when students switch back and forth between the two mid-year. We didn’t have time to get into a good discussion on voucher funding, but we parted each more informed I think. She was frustrated that her charter school in Lehi has trouble filling its spots despite the overcrowding in local schools right now as they wait for the new jr. high and high school to be finished in Saratoga Springs. She said many didn’t like the dress code and other rules. I was surprised that those would be such obstacles in northern Utah County and that any charter school there had open spots.
The Senate Caucus was relatively uneventful as Senator Dayton is not up for re-election. Senator Dayton and other elected officials about broke their arms patting each other on the back, except for Representative Fowlke who stood ignored with a strained look on her face as Rep’s Daw and Grover got to take the microphone and talk about their accomplishments. Lt. Governor Herbert openly joked about running for governor during his spiel.
Lt. Gov. Herbert took one question and Sen. Dayton took a few. The first was a request to explain the I.B. program issues from the session. Sen. Dayton segued into her opposition to NCLB for awhile, but eventually came back to the same bologna she believes from her Eagle Forum sources. She acknowledged some of the positives of the courses which she cannot avoid now, but claimed that the classes are accountable to the U.N rather than local and state school board “if you look at the flowchart.” Here’s the interesting bit: she is preparing a bill for the ’09 session that will require parents to sign an “opt-in” release form for International Baccalaureate saying something to the effect that you are giving up your right to be governed by the school board. C’mon. I really have trouble understanding how intelligent adults believe all this stuff. The IB Board certifies if the IB classes meet the standard to receive their “credits” or stamp of approval. This is independent of the local school boards, but doesn’t take away their “sovereignty.” If the Iowa company decided that a batch of 11th grade Iowa tests from Utah were inappropriately proctored or something, they could rightly refuse to accept those tests as valid for their national data comparisons. This would certainly influence how the state viewed it, but the state would be perfectly able to count the test for their own purposes if they saw fit. These evil U.N. classes from International Baccalaureate are 100% under the jurisdiction of the school boards Senator. They have 100% freedom at the local level to choose curriculum, management, or anything they want. If they don’t follow certain standards of rigor and content required for I.B. certification, then they lose the right to receive a certificate and put a fancy name on their resume. That’s it. Utah would still be free to count those classes for credit, count the students, test the students, discipline them, etc. No one has to fly to Geneva or submit to the North American Union. An “opt-in” bill over a program that has parents clamoring to get in will just look even sillier than Senators Dayton, Stephenson, and Peterson already have.
The House Caucus was very interesting as things got a bit chippy, motions were ruled out-of-order, and Brad Daw avoided a primary by a single vote. This was a major surprise as I think almost no one gave Linda Houskeeper a chance here. I want to write about this separately, so I’ll come back to it.
The convention itself was interesting and fairly fast moving. I was very thankful for the strict time procedures on all of the candidate speeches. The “Reagan Award” was given to Utah County Clerk Bryan Thompson. I mentioned to my friend that I was very surprised by this, but I don’t think I was any more surprised than he was. Thompson didn’t expect the award, mentioned how surprised he was to receive it after the long lines at the Western States Primary Election, and thanked everyone for their forgiveness. It was kind of sweet and kind of weird.
The state office holders spoke. Chris Cannon got a little animated and inadvertently occasioned a funny moment. He said he supported Mitt Romney as the vice presidential pick and told the crowd that he wanted to hear from them if they agreed. In response, he got a quick, but hearty cheer. He then rhetorically asked if any one was opposed and received another fairly loud cheer. Hesitation, nonplussed look, and reply, “Ooooh, I guess there’s some of you.”
The candidate speeches were more varied, had more personality, and were more interesting. First, the Second Congressional District candidates spoke. My first ever attempt at a political joke for a National Junior Honors Society speech in middle school was about Merrill Cook (It was something about his being like the energizer Bunny—going and going—and my best friend and I thought it was hilarious. My mother vetoed the idea upon perusal of the final draft and instead supplied a Dan Quayle joke that was very successful), so I was happy to see him in person for I think the first time in my life. Kenneth Gray explained that we have three centuries worth of oil at $15 dollars a barrel in the shale of Eastern Utah. (Cannon claimed a comparatively pricy $20-$30 a barrel for shale oil.) And I am curious if the gregarious Don Ferguson running for the Second Congressional District is related to Joe N.P.C. Ferguson running for the Third Congressional District.
The Third Congressional District candidates were generally much more issues oriented and bashed the incumbent Republican congressmen more as opposed to the Second District guys who bashed Matheson and the Democratic majority. Joe Ferguson had an informative poster for his N.A.U. warning. I was sitting with another teacher whom I frequently agree with, but he is much more worried about the possibility of the N.A.U. than I am. He bought one of Ferguson’s DVD’s for 5 bucks to see what he has to say. I want to borrow it if I get the time.
Chuck Smith, running for the Republican nomination for governor against Jon Huntsman, started out pretty typically by explaining that “more efficient” government was an oxymoron. He then proceeded to tell us that he had spent the last 8 years devising a plan for less government to “take education out of tax funds altogether” or something like that, which I assume means privatization. We can check his website or literature for full details.
The State Treasurer candidates argued over who could survive longer in the desert with only a protractor and an abacus, and then results were announced. There will be no Republican primaries this year, which I assume is exactly what the party leadership wanted, minus the part about Rep. Tilton’s opponent winning 60% of the vote and securing the nomination. Rep’s Daw and Grover had 60.4% and 60.6% percent of their delegates’ votes respectively. Only 2 of 7 winners in contested legislative races garnered more than 68% of the vote. More on this tomorrow…
It was crowded and interesting. I ran into two old BYU friends. They were both first-time delegates also, but even greener than I was last Fall in terms of political awareness. One found out I was now a teacher as I expressed my disagreements with the Parents for Choice in Education booth nearby. She immediately said “Oh. Then I’m against you. I teach at a charter school.” This surprised and saddened me. I think there are funding issues with charter vs. public schools as well, but I’m not opposed to them and vouchers would rob both. I told her why I was surprised and that I thought the problem was more about elements of the legislature setting us against each other over funding. We both recounted stories of funding snafus when students switch back and forth between the two mid-year. We didn’t have time to get into a good discussion on voucher funding, but we parted each more informed I think. She was frustrated that her charter school in Lehi has trouble filling its spots despite the overcrowding in local schools right now as they wait for the new jr. high and high school to be finished in Saratoga Springs. She said many didn’t like the dress code and other rules. I was surprised that those would be such obstacles in northern Utah County and that any charter school there had open spots.
The Senate Caucus was relatively uneventful as Senator Dayton is not up for re-election. Senator Dayton and other elected officials about broke their arms patting each other on the back, except for Representative Fowlke who stood ignored with a strained look on her face as Rep’s Daw and Grover got to take the microphone and talk about their accomplishments. Lt. Governor Herbert openly joked about running for governor during his spiel.
Lt. Gov. Herbert took one question and Sen. Dayton took a few. The first was a request to explain the I.B. program issues from the session. Sen. Dayton segued into her opposition to NCLB for awhile, but eventually came back to the same bologna she believes from her Eagle Forum sources. She acknowledged some of the positives of the courses which she cannot avoid now, but claimed that the classes are accountable to the U.N rather than local and state school board “if you look at the flowchart.” Here’s the interesting bit: she is preparing a bill for the ’09 session that will require parents to sign an “opt-in” release form for International Baccalaureate saying something to the effect that you are giving up your right to be governed by the school board. C’mon. I really have trouble understanding how intelligent adults believe all this stuff. The IB Board certifies if the IB classes meet the standard to receive their “credits” or stamp of approval. This is independent of the local school boards, but doesn’t take away their “sovereignty.” If the Iowa company decided that a batch of 11th grade Iowa tests from Utah were inappropriately proctored or something, they could rightly refuse to accept those tests as valid for their national data comparisons. This would certainly influence how the state viewed it, but the state would be perfectly able to count the test for their own purposes if they saw fit. These evil U.N. classes from International Baccalaureate are 100% under the jurisdiction of the school boards Senator. They have 100% freedom at the local level to choose curriculum, management, or anything they want. If they don’t follow certain standards of rigor and content required for I.B. certification, then they lose the right to receive a certificate and put a fancy name on their resume. That’s it. Utah would still be free to count those classes for credit, count the students, test the students, discipline them, etc. No one has to fly to Geneva or submit to the North American Union. An “opt-in” bill over a program that has parents clamoring to get in will just look even sillier than Senators Dayton, Stephenson, and Peterson already have.
The House Caucus was very interesting as things got a bit chippy, motions were ruled out-of-order, and Brad Daw avoided a primary by a single vote. This was a major surprise as I think almost no one gave Linda Houskeeper a chance here. I want to write about this separately, so I’ll come back to it.
The convention itself was interesting and fairly fast moving. I was very thankful for the strict time procedures on all of the candidate speeches. The “Reagan Award” was given to Utah County Clerk Bryan Thompson. I mentioned to my friend that I was very surprised by this, but I don’t think I was any more surprised than he was. Thompson didn’t expect the award, mentioned how surprised he was to receive it after the long lines at the Western States Primary Election, and thanked everyone for their forgiveness. It was kind of sweet and kind of weird.
The state office holders spoke. Chris Cannon got a little animated and inadvertently occasioned a funny moment. He said he supported Mitt Romney as the vice presidential pick and told the crowd that he wanted to hear from them if they agreed. In response, he got a quick, but hearty cheer. He then rhetorically asked if any one was opposed and received another fairly loud cheer. Hesitation, nonplussed look, and reply, “Ooooh, I guess there’s some of you.”
The candidate speeches were more varied, had more personality, and were more interesting. First, the Second Congressional District candidates spoke. My first ever attempt at a political joke for a National Junior Honors Society speech in middle school was about Merrill Cook (It was something about his being like the energizer Bunny—going and going—and my best friend and I thought it was hilarious. My mother vetoed the idea upon perusal of the final draft and instead supplied a Dan Quayle joke that was very successful), so I was happy to see him in person for I think the first time in my life. Kenneth Gray explained that we have three centuries worth of oil at $15 dollars a barrel in the shale of Eastern Utah. (Cannon claimed a comparatively pricy $20-$30 a barrel for shale oil.) And I am curious if the gregarious Don Ferguson running for the Second Congressional District is related to Joe N.P.C. Ferguson running for the Third Congressional District.
The Third Congressional District candidates were generally much more issues oriented and bashed the incumbent Republican congressmen more as opposed to the Second District guys who bashed Matheson and the Democratic majority. Joe Ferguson had an informative poster for his N.A.U. warning. I was sitting with another teacher whom I frequently agree with, but he is much more worried about the possibility of the N.A.U. than I am. He bought one of Ferguson’s DVD’s for 5 bucks to see what he has to say. I want to borrow it if I get the time.
Chuck Smith, running for the Republican nomination for governor against Jon Huntsman, started out pretty typically by explaining that “more efficient” government was an oxymoron. He then proceeded to tell us that he had spent the last 8 years devising a plan for less government to “take education out of tax funds altogether” or something like that, which I assume means privatization. We can check his website or literature for full details.
The State Treasurer candidates argued over who could survive longer in the desert with only a protractor and an abacus, and then results were announced. There will be no Republican primaries this year, which I assume is exactly what the party leadership wanted, minus the part about Rep. Tilton’s opponent winning 60% of the vote and securing the nomination. Rep’s Daw and Grover had 60.4% and 60.6% percent of their delegates’ votes respectively. Only 2 of 7 winners in contested legislative races garnered more than 68% of the vote. More on this tomorrow…
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Long election lines--I sort of feel bad for the Utah County Clerk, even if his name is "mud"
I spent a lot of time waiting today.
First, I stayed home from school to get finger surgery. Nothing major, but I still had to wear the stupid hospital gown and the whole bit. The surgeries before mine got delayed and I ended up lying in a hospital bed for two and a half hours watching CNN. Mixed blessing. I had to watch a ditzy "political correspondent" repeat what happened in the West Virginia Republican caucuses every 20 minutes, but I did get to learn more about the health plans, learn the specifics of some states' primaries, and see some interesting interviews with voters.
The surgery went well and I feel surprisingly chipper. We later went as a family to vote and ended up waiting in line at our new voting location at Cherry Hills Elementary in Orem for an hour and a half. The kids somehow held up even though our 8-month-year-old went to bed an hour late. I personally saw at least 30 people walk out without voting, some immediately upon seeing the line and others after waiting for 30+ minutes. One couple I spoke with couldn't wait because the man's health wouldn't allow him to stand that long. There were parents with young children and a large number of elderly citizens, many leaning on walkers. A woman I knew said this was the 4th time she had come back hoping for a shorter line and that she was going to be late for her daughter's parent/teacher conference. We confirmed with the people around us that the wait had been at least an hour all day long. (I guess the fact we had time to make new friends from the community while spending quality line time together could be spun as a positive...) The 3 or 4 poll workers were near-heroic in trying to handle the huge crowds, but they needed help. You could see the booths sitting mostly empty--the bottleneck was at the sign-in table. Just as we reached the voting booths a few minutes before 7:00 pm (polls close at 8:00), the head poll worker lady asked if anyone else had been a poll worker before and would volunteer to help. She got a couple volunteers and that helped a little. (I was stuck with kids to look after, but I'm thinking of signing up as a poll worker in November. My grandmother has helped at her small town precinct in Ohio for like 40 years.) I was driving home from the grocery store at 9:00 pm and KSL radio interviewed Utah County Clerk, Bryan Thompson. He said that that people were still in line to vote and that some locations would have lines until 9:30 pm!
This article from KSL explains the increased difficulty for poll workers and further quotes Thompson about the long lines.
I guess the 2000 primaries were much later in the season and Bush already had the nomination sewn up, leading to extremely low turnout. I could understand an honest mistake in underestimating the number of voters this time...except that Mr. Thompson knew the turnout was going to be that high and that there had been problems at some locations during the November referendum vote that also had large turnout. Before I left home this morning, I read this article. It is all about the historic nature of this primary, both nationally and locally. There have never been two such competitive contests at the same time with Utah in a position to vote right in the middle of it. Turnout has been up all over the country. And then this from Thompson:
Then later in the article, it continues:
Ummmm. Whoops? I thought it sounded weird as I read it. Why consolidate if you're expecting high turnout like in the November voting? Thompson admitted that the 2000 primary pattern was going to be different this time and that he expected up to 45% turnout. He took responsibility in the KSL quote, but that still doesn't explain why he was so unprepared for what he knew was coming. As I said earlier and unlike what Thompson claimed, there were not enough poll workers and the poor head lady had been there since 6:30 this morning. And, the guy behind me in line said that he had an hour-long wait back in November for the voucher vote. In my two years of living in Orem, I have never waited longer than a minute or so to vote at my normal voting location at Westmore Elementary. I don't know if the Cherry Hills neighborhood attracts a higher percentage of voters or if it's just hard to get volunteers there (the workers there tonight were awesome!), or some other explanation for the lines. But it is frustrating that the same problems had already been observed in November, and rather than correct them (i.e. recruit more workers, more training, assign fewer people to vote at that location, etc.), Thompson consolidated two or three times more people to vote there. Was the money saved worth the voters that gave up and went home? (The results wouldn't have changed, but the principle of participation remains.)
It seems that lack of foresight, or maybe lack of money, caused the problems.
First, I stayed home from school to get finger surgery. Nothing major, but I still had to wear the stupid hospital gown and the whole bit. The surgeries before mine got delayed and I ended up lying in a hospital bed for two and a half hours watching CNN. Mixed blessing. I had to watch a ditzy "political correspondent" repeat what happened in the West Virginia Republican caucuses every 20 minutes, but I did get to learn more about the health plans, learn the specifics of some states' primaries, and see some interesting interviews with voters.
The surgery went well and I feel surprisingly chipper. We later went as a family to vote and ended up waiting in line at our new voting location at Cherry Hills Elementary in Orem for an hour and a half. The kids somehow held up even though our 8-month-year-old went to bed an hour late. I personally saw at least 30 people walk out without voting, some immediately upon seeing the line and others after waiting for 30+ minutes. One couple I spoke with couldn't wait because the man's health wouldn't allow him to stand that long. There were parents with young children and a large number of elderly citizens, many leaning on walkers. A woman I knew said this was the 4th time she had come back hoping for a shorter line and that she was going to be late for her daughter's parent/teacher conference. We confirmed with the people around us that the wait had been at least an hour all day long. (I guess the fact we had time to make new friends from the community while spending quality line time together could be spun as a positive...) The 3 or 4 poll workers were near-heroic in trying to handle the huge crowds, but they needed help. You could see the booths sitting mostly empty--the bottleneck was at the sign-in table. Just as we reached the voting booths a few minutes before 7:00 pm (polls close at 8:00), the head poll worker lady asked if anyone else had been a poll worker before and would volunteer to help. She got a couple volunteers and that helped a little. (I was stuck with kids to look after, but I'm thinking of signing up as a poll worker in November. My grandmother has helped at her small town precinct in Ohio for like 40 years.) I was driving home from the grocery store at 9:00 pm and KSL radio interviewed Utah County Clerk, Bryan Thompson. He said that that people were still in line to vote and that some locations would have lines until 9:30 pm!
This article from KSL explains the increased difficulty for poll workers and further quotes Thompson about the long lines.
The big problem today has been in Utah County. The county consolidated polling locations. Usually there are more than 100, but today there were fewer than 60. So at places like Bonneville Elementary in Orem, the voting lines were longer, the binders with voters' names were larger, and there was confusion about which polling places to go to.
"Actually, this is the fourth place I've been. I'm glad to be voting. I'm finally in the right line. I'll be able to vote," Dan Hackaman said.
But why would Utah county want to consolidate voting locations on such a big voting day? "It was a total misjudgment, that I take responsibility for," Utah County Clerk Bryan Thompson said.
Utah County made the decision to consolidate last November based on dismal turnout in the 2000 primary. The turnout this time around is expected to be 35 to 40 percent.
I guess the 2000 primaries were much later in the season and Bush already had the nomination sewn up, leading to extremely low turnout. I could understand an honest mistake in underestimating the number of voters this time...except that Mr. Thompson knew the turnout was going to be that high and that there had been problems at some locations during the November referendum vote that also had large turnout. Before I left home this morning, I read this article. It is all about the historic nature of this primary, both nationally and locally. There have never been two such competitive contests at the same time with Utah in a position to vote right in the middle of it. Turnout has been up all over the country. And then this from Thompson:
Bryan Thompson, Utah County clerk/auditor, said he is expecting a higher voter turnout for the presidential primaries. The primaries in 2000 had only a 10 percent turnout, but Thompson said he is expecting at least twice that amount this time around.
"We're planning on about a 35 to 45 percent voter turnout, which would be close to what we had for the municipal election in November," he said.
Many voters participated in the November elections because of the statewide referendum vote on school vouchers, and Thompson said the presidential race has garnered extra interest as well. Thompson said there has been a lot of passion in Utah County for different candidates, and a good number of residents will likely take time to vote.
Then later in the article, it continues:
In Utah County, Thompson said the polling locations will be slightly different from those used in other elections. There are fewer issues to be decided this year, so the county has scaled the number of locations down to 59 from 107. It costs more than $1,000 to use a polling place, so the county has saved between $35,000 and $50,000 with the move.
"It could backfire, I'll be perfectly honest," he said. "If people are waiting in lines, my name will be mud."
Thompson said the county has hired extra employees to handle any overcrowding, so voters should not have any difficulty.
Although there are fewer locations than there were for municipal elections, Thompson said signs will be up at unused polling places instructing voters where the new location is.
Ummmm. Whoops? I thought it sounded weird as I read it. Why consolidate if you're expecting high turnout like in the November voting? Thompson admitted that the 2000 primary pattern was going to be different this time and that he expected up to 45% turnout. He took responsibility in the KSL quote, but that still doesn't explain why he was so unprepared for what he knew was coming. As I said earlier and unlike what Thompson claimed, there were not enough poll workers and the poor head lady had been there since 6:30 this morning. And, the guy behind me in line said that he had an hour-long wait back in November for the voucher vote. In my two years of living in Orem, I have never waited longer than a minute or so to vote at my normal voting location at Westmore Elementary. I don't know if the Cherry Hills neighborhood attracts a higher percentage of voters or if it's just hard to get volunteers there (the workers there tonight were awesome!), or some other explanation for the lines. But it is frustrating that the same problems had already been observed in November, and rather than correct them (i.e. recruit more workers, more training, assign fewer people to vote at that location, etc.), Thompson consolidated two or three times more people to vote there. Was the money saved worth the voters that gave up and went home? (The results wouldn't have changed, but the principle of participation remains.)
It seems that lack of foresight, or maybe lack of money, caused the problems.
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