Uncounted Votes Not Likely To Reverse Proposition 8 Vote

It doesn’t appear that the final votes which have yet to be counted will have an effect on the outcome of the vote on California’s Proposition 8 which would ban same-sex marriage.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Roughly 2.7 million ballots from Tuesday’s election remained to be counted statewide as of late Friday, according to the California secretary of state’s office.

The complete, county-by-county list is available on the secretary of state’s website. Last week, Times reporters contacted the state’s largest counties and reported that at least 1.7 million ballots remained outstanding. Since then, several of the counties, including Los Angeles, have increased their estimates. L.A. officials reported to the secretary of state that they had more than 615,000 ballots yet to count.

Where do all those ballots come from, and why does counting them take so long?

Statewide, about 1.9 million were mail-in ballots that were received too late to be counted on Tuesday. Those ballots can be processed relatively quickly.

But 728,000 were provisional ballots, generally cast by people whose names did not show up on their precincts’ registration lists. Those ballots need to be processed by hand, with officials checking to see if the person who voted was entitled to do so.

Then there is another group of at least 146,000 ballots that were damaged or for some reason could not be read by optical scanners. Those also have to be handled individually.

With all those ballots outstanding, how can news organizations, including The Times, be confident about calling the results of elections? The answer is a matter of odds.

Take Proposition 8 as an example. As of Saturday morning, the secretary of state reported 5,661,583 votes in favor and 5,154,457 opposed, for a margin of just more than half a million votes. In order to reverse that result, opponents of the measure would have to win just more than 59% of the uncounted ballots. So far, however, opponents have won 47.6% of the vote. The odds are strongly against the uncounted ballots being so dramatically different from the ones counted.

By comparison, Proposition 11, the redistricting initiative backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has a 133,952-vote margin of victory so far.

Opponents would have to win about 52% of the remaining vote to turn around the result — still a high hurdle but perhaps achievable. For that reason, The Times has not declared a winner in that race.

Hollywood Stars Join the Fight Against Gay Marriage Ban

As seen in the streets of San Francisco and San Jose last night, thousands of protesters are angry about California’s ban on gay marriage. Now, even Hollywood stars are getting more involved.

From the Associated Press:

Many celebrities grieved the passing of Proposition 8 in California this week. Some — such as Wanda Sykes, Rose McGowan and Lance Bass — attended a Wednesday protest criticizing the state’s gay marriage ban. Others — like Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O’Donnell, Samantha Ronson and Melissa Etheridge — vented their frustrations online, on TV, and onstage.

Blocks away from the Thursday rally of more than 2,000 gay-rights advocates outside the gates of a Mormon temple, several stars — including James Cromwell, Patricia Clarkson, Anjelica Huston and Sean Penn — said they supported the protesters while walking the red carpet at the BAFTA L.A. Brittania Awards at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.

“I think it might be an idea to go out and join them shortly,” Penn said. “It was a shameful decision that was made.”

Etheridge, who exchanged vows with her longtime partner in a 2003 ceremony, declared she wouldn’t pay her taxes in a blog entry posted Thursday on TheDailyBeast.com. The gay Oscar- and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter said without the right to marry in California, she didn’t think she should have to pay taxes because “I am not a full citizen.”

“I don’t mean to get too personal here,” Etheridge wrote. “But there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes, too.”

DeGeneres posted a brief message of support for President-elect Barack Obama and the gay-rights advocates protesting against Proposition 8 on her show’s Web site Friday. The talk show host, who married actress Portia de Rossi in August, previously donated $100,000 against the ballot initiative and starred in a commercial lamenting the measure.

“So there was a demonstration here on Wednesday night,” DeGeneres wrote, “and just before I walked out here, I was watching the news and there is a huge, huge, peaceful demonstration going on in the streets, and I say, good for you, and I support you, and if I weren’t here, I’d be out there with you.”

Proposition 8 Protesters Take to the Streets in San Jose

Dozens of gay-marriage advocates gathered Friday in downtown San Jose to protest voter approval this week of a state constitutional amendment that California will recognize marriage between a man and a woman only. You could see them lining up to march from my window on the 9th floor of my office building downtown as we were leaving this evening.

From the San Jose Mercury News:

“Demand resolution, give us back our constitution!” chanted the crowd of about 75 gay and heterosexual Silicon Valley residents gathered at the Plaza de Cesar Chavez as passing cars honked their horns in approval.

The gathering coincided with a similar march in San Francisco organized by opponents of Proposition 8, approved by 52.5 percent of voters statewide though only 44.3 percent supported it in Santa Clara County.

“I can’t believe Californians can say separate but equal is OK,” said Rusty Tooley, 42, of San Jose, who officially married his boyfriend, Eric, in the summer after the state Supreme Court invalidated a 2000 initiative restricting marriage to a man and woman.

The demonstrators gathered at 6 p.m. and an hour later marched to San Jose City Hall. Some in the crowd were critical of Mayor Chuck Reed’s refusal to take a position on Proposition 8 while the mayors of San Francisco and Oakland opposed it. Eric Lee, 29, of Saratoga said that by not publicly denouncing the measure, Reed validated qualms fellow Democrats might have had about gay marriage.

Proposition 8 backers were not evident at Friday’s demonstration. Larry Pegram, a retired police officer and former city councilman who as president of the Values Advocacy Council led local support for Proposition 8, said earlier in the day that voters had spoken.

Activists Blame Mormon Church for the Passing of Proposition 8

Gay-rights advocates are criticizing the role of the Mormon church’s role in a new California statewide ban on same-sex marriage.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Outside the gates of a Mormon temple, Kai Cross joined more than 2,000 gay-rights advocates in a chorus of criticism of the church’s role in a new statewide ban on same-sex marriage.

Once a devout Mormon who graduated from Brigham Young University, the 41-year-old Cross was disowned by his family and his church after he was outed as a gay man in 2001.

“They are on the losing side of history,” Cross said Thursday of the church’s opposition to gay marriage. Cross and other protesters blame leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for encouraging Mormons to funnel millions of dollars into television ads and mailings in favor of Proposition 8.

The ballot measure passed Tuesday, which was sponsored by a coalition of religious and social conservative groups, amends the California Constitution to define marriage as a heterosexual act. It overides a state Supreme Court ruling that briefly gave same-sex couples the right to wed.

The protest came amid questions about whether attempts to overturn the prohibition can succeed and whether the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in California over the past four months are in any danger.

For Cody Krebs, 27, four months was not enough time to fulfill his “intense hope” to marry one day; he and his boyfriend have been together for little more than a year, so they aren’t ready to wed.

On Thursday, Krebs dodged eggs hurled at protesters from an apartment building. He said he’d seen worse growing up in Salt Lake City.

“It’s important to come out like this because it gets the gay community into the public eye,” Krebs said. “I feel like this has started a lot of conversations that had to get started.”

The demonstration began outside the temple in the Westwood section of Los Angeles and noisily spilled through the western side of the city, with chants of “Separate church and state” and “What do we want? Equal rights.” Some protesters waved signs saying “No on H8″ or “I didn’t vote against your marriage,” and many equated the issue with the civil rights struggle.

Petition to Re-Open Proposition 8 in California

Just thought that I would pass along this petition which I received earlier today to anyone who would be interested in having their voice continued to be heard. No one HAS to sign this petition but you do have the option if you so choose. This issue continues to bring heated debate from both sides of the issue throughout California and across the nation. All thoughts are welcome.

Here is the text:

I, myself, and many Californians I know are disgusted with the hatred that the passing of proposition 8 brought. I am asking you to read this over, THE FACTS, not the propaganda. Open your mind for a minute, and realize that this is terrible for future generations as well. How do you know that your future children or grandchildren won’t come to you and tell you they are homosexual? Wouldn’t you want your child to live a life in which the love they found was supported? Plain and simple, if you are an American, you should believe in preserving the constitution. Proposition 8′s passing took away the 14th amendment for a group of people, and I would like to give it back.

Facts v. Fiction
Proposition 8 would eliminate fundamental rights for a group of Californians. It’s unfair and it’s wrong.

Fiction: Prop 8 doesn’t discriminate against gay people.
Fact: Prop 8 is simple: it eliminates the rights for same-sex couples to marry. Prop 8 would deny equal protections and write discrimination against one group of people—lesbian and gay people—into our state constitution.

Fiction: Teaching children about same-sex marriage will happen here unless we pass Prop 8.
Fact: Not one word in Prop 8 mentions education. And no child can be forced, against the will of their parents, to be taught anything about health and family issues at school. California law prohibits it.
California’s top educators including Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell and California Teachers all agree: Prop 8 has nothing to do with education.

Fiction: Churches could lose their tax-exemption status.
Fact: The court decision regarding marriage specifically says “no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs.”

Fiction: A Massachusetts case about a parent’s objection to the school curriculum will happen here.
Fact: California gives parents an absolute right to remove their kids and opt-out of teaching on health and family instruction they don’t agree with. The opponents know that California law already covers this and Prop 8 won’t affect it, so they bring up an irrelevant case in Massachusetts.

Fiction: Four Activist Judges in San Francisco…
Fact: Prop 8 is about eliminating a fundamental right. Judges didn’t grant the right, the constitution guarantees the right. Proponents of Prop 8 use an outdated and stale argument that judges aren’t supposed to protect rights and freedoms. Prop 8 is about whether Californians are willing to amend the constitution for the sole purpose of eliminating a fundamental right for one group of citizens.

Fiction: If Prop 8 isn’t passed, people can be sued over personal beliefs.
Fact: California’s laws already prohibit discrimination against anyone based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. This has nothing to do with marriage.

Fiction: Pepperdine University supports the Yes on 8 campaign.
Fact: The University has publicly disassociated itself from Professor Richard Peterson of Pepperdine University, who is featured in the ad, and has asked to not be identified in the Yes on 8 advertisements.

Fiction: Unless Prop 8 passes, California parents won’t have the right to object to what their children are taught in school.
Fact: California law clearly gives parents and guardians broad authority to remove their children from any health instruction if it conflicts with their religious beliefs or moral convictions.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned