So Yesterday Frank Barbaro held his press conference where he called attention to what the Registrar has (not) been doing in regards to the malicious voter registration fraud that was conducted on behalf of the Orange County Republican Party.
Rumor has it that the turnout was depressing…looks like theliberaloc.com isn’t effective as a muckraking call-to-action blog just yet.
Then I get this press release from The Orange County Registrar’s office. And when I read it, I kind of get the feeling that there’s something going on under the surface here; I sense that Kelley’s a little defensive. So I called up Kelley’s communication’s director, Brett Rowley, to shoot the shit:
Me: Hey Brett, it’s Mike from TheLiberalOC.com
Brett:
Me: Hey, look, I’m just getting ready to post a little something about the release you guys put out yesterday.
Brett:
Me: To me, it looks like there’s this back and forth…and perhaps I’m reading into it a little too much, but I sense a little animosity.
Brett: Nope. We get along great. We actually participated in their news conference yesterday.
Me: Yeah, I wish I could have made it. What was the turn out like?
Brett: There were three cameras.
Me: Um. How about humans?
Brett: I didn’t count.
Me: That bad?
I begged Brett to guess how many humans were in attendance and he guessed 8. Ouch.
There is one small piece of Kelley’s memo that is worth mentioning here, it’s the 7th bullet point:
Voters that disagree with their party designation when they arrive at the polls will be allowed to vote a provisional ballot for the party of their choice. The Registrar of Voters has determined the range of registration forms (they are tracked by number) and will count the entire provisional ballot for voters that had a party designation issue.
So listen, reluctant voters, you cannot use “Well, I think the Republican Party screwed up my registration, so I won’t go out and vote†as an excuse. Not this time.
He’s not a great communicator for a communications director, huh?
The turnout was not as high as we hoped but there were more than 8 people there. There were probably about 15. The problem was the time of day; unfortunately, Frank could only do at that time.
Here is the lowdown:
OC Registrar agreed to do robocalls to the 3,500 questionable registrations. It is probably too little too late. Putting the DPOC on the calls is delicate (although we could have done 3,500 calls if we started before the holiday)it just looks more up and up from the OC Registrar. The DPOC is runnning a complaint log (714) 835-5158 or info@ocdemocrats.net.
What people need to know – especially if they live in the 34th is the following:
1. Always check your voting materials when you recieve. That would be your VBM (aka absentee ballot) or Sample Ballot. They will tell you how you are registered.
2. If you believe you have been switched – you may ask for a provisional ballot when you go to your polling place – while you are at it – you may as go with the paper ballot as well. Be sure to inform the OC Registrar of Voters (714) 567-7600.
3. If you vote by mail, you can go to the Registrar 1300 S. Grand Ave. (Corner of Grand & McFadden)and vote there OR there are some early voting locations (with real operating hours) where you can go. You must turn in your wrong ballot to recieve a new one.
4. I understand Voter Regisrtation Cards will be at these sites. Be sure to re register with the party of your choice (or no party at all).
Hope this is helpful.
Thank you for the advice!