Looking into the Future of Clark County

The Commissioners race between Pam Brokaw and Tom Mielke now looks like this:

Brokaw: 84,099 49.88%
Mielke: 84,306 50.00%
Write-ins: 212 .13%

There will be a machine recount of the ballots, but unless the numbers change by 208 in Brokaw's favour, Mielke will be making decisions about Clark County, Washington come next year. This is a VERY disturbing prospect for those of us who care about the quality of life in our community. Mielke has an extremely poor record on land use issues and protecting the environment.

The sad truth is that many voters select candidates at this level based on whether they've heard the person's name before. Mielke served as a state representative for several years and ran (unsuccessfully) for the commission multiple times. Name recognition is key. Think I'm making this up? I'm not. I've spoken with many people who confess they know nothing about some candidates and their positions, but when faced with a blank to fill in, they feel compelled to make a choice. So they select the name they've heard - even if they know nothing about what that person is likely to do if elected. Remember in my previous post where I mentioned there were over 15,000 undervotes, where people didn't select anyone for the county commission position? Which is worse, voting for someone without knowing anything about them, or not even voting? I can't decide.

What I DO know is that voters have a responsibility to learn about the people who will be governing them. Don'tcha think so too?

Chasing to correct mistakes of the past

Journey back with me to a night almost three weeks ago, when we learned that the majority of Americans were ready for a big change in their leadership.

(O happy day!)

Believe it or not, the election isn't over for everyone. One local race is still too close to call. My friends and I have been busy these past couple of weeks visiting voters who forgot to sign their ballot envelopes. There are hundreds of votes that weren't counted here in Clark County because of no signature or a signature that didn't match the registration. These votes could help to decide the outcome of the race for county commissioner.

We've chased all over, tracking down folks who belong to the provisional ballots. If they signed an affidavit verifying their ballot was voted by them and it was presented to the elections office by 5 pm today, their vote will be counted.

It's an interesting process - many of the folks were extremely appreciative of our efforts. Some were so grateful that they invited us in for coffee or introduced us to family members who shook our hands and thanked us for our efforts.

Ironically, though, many of their ballots likely WON'T make a difference in this race because many probably didn't vote all the way down the ballot. They voted for President, maybe selected a Governor candidate and even a state senator and representative, but did not choose anyone in the county commission race between Pam Brokaw and Tom Mielke. When I last looked at the some of the vote totals, there were over 15,000 people who had UNDERVOTED relative to this race. It's sad, because while the other races are certainly important, county commissioners are in an extremely powerful position which determines our quality of life. Their decisions really impact how our community grows. People don't understand how local government makes such a difference.

It will still be a little while before this race is decided. There may be a recount, depending on what the numbers are after tonight. I'll post more about this soon.

Journey to a Future with a Palin Oval Office

Halloween is coming up, so I thought you might enjoy this VERY SCARY site. Click on just about anything (some things like the door and the globe have multiple separate consecutive animations).

Don't look at it too close to bedtime, though. I wouldn't want you to have nightmares.


PalinAsPresident.com

John McCain Time Travels!

There is a great post at Women for John McCain (hint, they're not really for him) on how he time traveled.

Check it out!

Politics and Popcorn

So I've finally followed through on my interest in political films, and developed a mini-college course. To clarify, the course is mini, not the college. It's only three films, but lots of discussion and supplementary content. I'm actually pretty proud of this effort. We've seen the little-appreciated Sidney Lumet film, Power, and will watch Frank Capra's State of the Union and Barry Levinson's Man of the Year as well.

You should rent these films this weekend and watch them all. Tell me what you think of them. They show you everything you need to know to understand American politics. Okay, that's a lie. But they're still great! And they illuminate a bunch of stuff:
media manipulation by candidates, polling, interest groups' influence, campaign consultants, electronic voting flaws, celebrity factor...

Classic Moves

Just spent two days moving our junk out of storage. What on earth did we save all this for?

At least I know we are rich in friends. It takes special people to sacrifice an entire day to tote someone else's garbage up and down a moving van ramp and place it into a house. Especially since many of the boxes are HEAVY with rocks, books and records.

I think next time we relocate, I will give away all my earthly possessions.

I feel jetlagged as though I'd travelled to a planet light years away instead of just across town.

Classic Movies

So I've been revisiting some old classics - Animal House, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the original Superman movies, Airplane and others - and was a little shocked to see how risque some of the scenes were. Anyone else think that?

I was also bummed to realize that a bunch of the actors are dead now - such as Jim Belushi, John Candy and Christopher Reeve. They were so funny. It stinks that they're dead. The Oscars always highlight those in show business who have died during the previous year. These used to be all really old people I'd never heard of. Very strange that more and more of those I grew up watching who were not much older than me are gone.

It was fun to see George Lucas and Steven Spielberg presenting the best director Oscar last night. Incredible that Lucas never received best director. I wish he'd follow through on his original idea to make 9 movies. I want another trilogy!