In California, ballots go out in one week, mailed "to every registered voter" 29 days before the September 14th recall election.  You can even register to vote on Election Day.

An article said California is going to allow online voting.  I checked the state's Ways to Vote page to be sure it wasn't true.  While it doesn't mention the option, I found several links to RAVBM, for "Remote Accessible Vote by Mail."  Yeah, it's a real thing.  Already in use.

The logic?  It allows those overseas and people with disabilities to get their ballot electronically and fill it out using "their own assistive technology."  They can't actually submit their vote online.  They must still mail it in.  Maybe it's okay empirically for someone traveling overseas to get a ballot.  But the disabled here in California?  If someone can't open an envelope, surely he can have assistance from someone who can help with the envelope and marking the ballot.  The logic escapes me, except as another way to game the system and cheat. How many extra voters will we get this time?  More than the 1.8 million or so from 2020?

I posited in an article last month, that the panic over the delta variant began right after Larry Elder entered the fray, and maybe it was because of the upcoming vote.  Visiting the COVID19.ca.gov website, the running tally of COVID deaths shows 36 on Sunday versus over 700 a day at the height of the pandemic.

By contrast, we average around 800 cancer deaths a day in the state.  (Although information isn't up to date.  They seem to have stopped counting after August 2020, when there were an inconvenient 26,199 for the month).  There are around 40 million people living in California.  My math skills aren't good enough to tell you why we are again being forced to wear masks and indulge, again, in COVID fear porn.

If you vote by mail, remember to mail it by Election Day.  The Post Office has seven days to deliver the ballots.  We can also skip the mail and deliver our ballot to local polling places on Election Day, where, presumably, there will be ballots as well.  There are also official drop boxes in some places, for those harvested print-outs.

I have a few questions.  How can the state know how many people are voting twice, or even three or more times, given the ability to print out a ballot at will?  In theory, if you vote on Election Day, they can check whether you already sent in a ballot, but does anyone believe they'll cross-reference all mail-in ballots with the in-person votes during the weeks after the election?  The law calls for signature verification.  Maybe I missed it, but I carefully went through the regulations a couple of times and didn't find one that cross-references mail-in ballots versus ballots handed out at the polls.

And how many of these print-out ballots will come from places like nursing homes, where unsuspecting elderly and Alzheimer's patients will have their votes harvested?  I suspect that the "counting" phase of this election will be an interesting process.  I hope it will be done in the full light of day, with observers from all interested groups allowed close enough to see what's happening.  Oh, wait!  COVID restrictions will no doubt prevent that.

The results must be certified "on the 38th day after the election."  If the recall is successful, the new governor will serve out the remainder of Newsom's term, until January 2, 2023.  He will be sworn in immediately.

Then there's confusion about the ballot itself.  Item one: Should Newsom be recalled?  Item two: Pick a replacement from the list.  How will voters pick among the 46 people in the running?  That might take some effort, to actually look at each of the candidates.

Not much is being done to acquaint us with them, it seems, other than the voter guide we'll all be mailed.  Too bad, since it's an important election.  If voters say "yes" to the recall, the person getting the most votes wins.  No matter how few votes that is, no matter if it's one vote more than the next candidate down the line.  No run-offs, so get it right the first time.

I next looked for "candidate forums before the September 14th California recall election."  You'd think googling that would get some results.  Think again.  Apparently, there was a debate already, among four of the Republican candidates.  Who knew?

Besides that, the California Republican Wimp Party declined to endorse any candidate.  Do they really just want Newsom to win?  Their excuse is that if they endorse one candidate, people not in favor of that candidate might not bother to vote.  And that there's such an overwhelmingly great field of candidates that they can't pick among them.  Back in May, I wrote an article that suggested that the Republicans might unify behind one candidate and win this election.  Personally, I'll give Larry Elder my (one) vote.  If anyone can wrestle this state back to being a good place to live, I think he's the man for the job.

Image: Recall Gavin Newsom poster by Recall Gavin 2020.

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