On today’s BradCast, I’m joined by Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan to discuss a blizzard of questions, concerns and confusion faced by voters here in CA in advance of the state’s highly-charged June 7 Presidential Primary in the nation’s single largest voting jurisdiction. [Audio link for the complete show is posted below.]
Logan describes the new laws and systems in place for this year’s election as as “uncharted territory” for voters. He goes on to respond to a pile of questions — from both me and callers — about the state’s insanely confusing system of both open and closed partisan primaries, as well as Vote-by-Mail issues and misconceptions, and a number of concerns about voter registration purges, poll worker training and much more. Here in Los Angeles we have nearly 5 million registered voters — more in this county alone than 42 of the 50 states. So, Logan clearly has his work cut out for him. The number of excellent questions from listener callers alone underscores both that point and the amazing number of moving pieces that will need to be held together to avoid disaster on June 7th.
The County Clerk also speaks to a lot of the misinformation that has circulated, of late, concerning CA elections in general and about Los Angeles County specifically. For example, he tells me that 85% of Provisional Ballots in the last general election were, in fact, confirmed as having been cast by properly registered voters and were included in the final tally. Yes, he says, voters registered with “No Party Preference” in California can vote in the Democratic Presidential Primary, but must request a “Democratic Cross-Over” ballot at the precinct or by mail (if they receive a Vote-by-Mail ballot request by March 31). Yes, a “No Party Preference” VBM voter may still vote at the precinct in the Democratic, Libertarian or American Independent Party primaries, even if they’ve already received a VBM ballot for a different party, so long as that ballot is surrendered at the polling place on Election Day. No, those NPP voters cannot vote in the Republican, Green, or Peace & Freedom Party primaries, which are closed to all but registered party members.
Frankly, there’s too much to summarize here. So, please give the show a listen. It’s incredibly informative.
Also, today, I share the response I recently obtained from Orange County, CA Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley, concerning a viral video posted by a pollworker-in-training (and Bernie Sanders supporter), who alleges that she was misinstructed by her trainer on the proper procedures for “No Party Preference” voters who might wish to vote in the Democratic Primary. Kelley told me he was confused by the woman’s video, because, he says, they “surveyed many poll workers in the class in question, as well as our trainer, and they have a very different view of the interaction” she discusses on the video. He tells me that, “in an abundance of caution” the County has reiterated the proper procedures to all pollworker trainers and have posted a video that “clairifes our efforts to ensure proper training of the rights and options for NPP voters”.
And then, the woman who posted that viral video, Ashley Beck, happened to call in to the show with her own response to Kelley’s response!
It all made for very lively radio today — with all of that and much more, including today’s breaking news about alleged violations of provisions of the Federal Records Act by Hillary Clinton, according to a new audit of her use of a private email server, issued by the U.S. State Department’s independent Inspector General.
Listen up! (And, please note, we’ll have guest hosts in for The BradCast over the next couple of days! Be nice to them! And enjoy!)
Is this now shaping up to be a “guns vs butter” election? (Too Big To Stop Killing – The War Class – 2)