May 16, 2011, 03:30 AM By Sue Lempert
Turnout for the District One supervisor special election was disappointing at less than 30 percent. Did the majority of voters just not care, not know enough about the candidates, or were just lazy or preoccupied? Since mail-only is certain to be utilized as a cost saver in the future, is there a way to increase participation? Maybe the time should be shortened from one month to two weeks. Maybe public service announcements reminding people to vote and mail.
Here are a few observations on the race.
Dave Pine, the winner, did not prevail in District One, the district he will represent on the Board of Supervisors. He lost by 310 votes to Gina Papan who, countywide, came in a surprising third. Ironically, Pine was a vocal champion of district elections even though he predicted he would do better in a countywide race. San Mateo is the only California county which maintains countywide elections for supervisor, a system which has been criticized by the civil grand jury and is now subject to a civil rights lawsuit. The recent election results will only spur calls for a change.
http://smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?type=opinions&title=Election%20postmortems&id=158863
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