[Shotimes] Way (OT) How to Run a Recall Election: Begin by Juggling the Alphabet

[Ron Porter]

Yeah, this is about as non-SHO related as I gets!!

Boy, this whole thing is really looking like a made-for-TV event! Who needs
reality shows!!

Ron Porter

August 12, 2003
 By DEAN E. MURPHY 

SACRAMENTO, Aug. 11 - Even the alphabet is getting an
official makeover as part of the California recall
election. Put the ABC's out of mind. It now goes something
like this (when singing, the familiar melody is still
O.K.): R, W, Q, O, J, M, V, A, H, B, S, G, Z, X, N, T, C,
I, E, K, U, P, D, Y, F and L. 

The race to replace Gov. Gray Davis, often likened to a
carnival, looked more like a political version of "Wheel of
Fortune" today. A state elections official, assisted by a
part-time percussionist from a Latin jazz band, determined
the random alphabetical order of the candidates on the Oct.
7 ballot under the glare of klieg lights with a
floor-to-ceiling display as a backdrop. 

"They needed someone with experience in front of the
camera," said the percussionist, Miguel Castillo, an
analyst in the secretary of state's office and the manager
of a rock band. "I asked if I could break into song, but
they wouldn't let me." 

It is still not known who has officially qualified to
appear on the ballot as a possible successor to Mr. Davis,
should he lose the recall vote. At last count, 195
candidates had submitted the necessary paperwork, with more
names still trickling in today from county elections
offices. 

Once the final tally is official, probably not until
Wednesday, the new alphabet will be used to place them in
order. Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said today that 96
of the candidates had so far been determined legitimate and
were likely to be among those certified. 

But Mr. Shelley could not predict what the final list might
look like or how such an unwieldy ballot would play with
the voters. 

"Let me be candid," he said, "there are going to be
problems. Like in any situation, you play with the cards
you have been dealt." 

Mr. Castillo's was a nonspeaking part, but no matter. The
percussionist expertly churned a bingo-style barrel painted
gold and crammed with 26 plastic film canisters, each
containing a different letter. 

The state official joining him, Shirley Washington, who
works in the press office for the secretary of state,
assumed the Vanna White role, plucking the canisters one by
one and reading the letters aloud. She did so under the
scrutiny of a former director of the California lottery,
positioned just off stage. 

"This is now the new alphabet," Terri M. Carbaugh, an
assistant secretary of state, declared after the final
letter, L, was drawn. 

It would have been an appropriate moment to extend
condolences to Dick Lane of Santa Clara County and Gary
Leonard of Los Angeles, two candidates who will never
appear at the top of the ballot under a dizzying rotation
system that assures a different candidate occupies the
marquee position in each of the state's 80 assembly
districts. 

Using the current list of 96 qualified candidates, for
example, the first name on the ballot would be David
Laughing Horse Robinson, an artist from the Central Valley.
He would be followed by Ned Fenton Roscoe, a Libertarian
from Napa, and Daniel C. Ramirez, a Democrat from Imperial
County. 

Some of the race's biggest-name contenders would not show
up until well down the roster. The actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger would be in the 45th spot, Lt. Gov. Cruz
Bustamante in the 43rd. Bill Simon Jr., the Republican
candidate for governor last November, would be 48th, and
Peter V. Ueberroth, the former baseball commissioner, 74th.


But that lineup would apply only to the first of the
state's 80 Assembly districts, a mostly rural area that
covers the state's far northwest corner, including Humboldt
and Mendocino Counties, a place where redwoods and wild
animals outnumber people. 

Under the rotation system, the top name on the ballot falls
to the bottom in each successive district, so that each of
80 candidates on the ballot gets the best billing in one
district. So keeping with the example of the 96 candidates,
Mr. Robinson would drop to No. 96 in the second assembly
district, also in rural northern California, and so on. 

With such a system, it is hard to know where a candidate
might want to land in the alphabetical tally. 

If the last election for governor is any guide, Democratic
candidates like Mr. Bustamante should be hoping for a shot
at the top of ballot in Districts 45, 46, 47, 48 and 52.
All of them are in Los Angeles County and all voted
overwhelmingly for Mr. Davis. In his best showing
statewide, the governor got 83 percent of the vote in
District 48. 

For Republicans, the odds-on favorites based on the same
election would be District 32, which covers parts of Kern
and Tulare Counties; District 71 in Orange County; District
66 in Riverside and San Diego Counties; District 29 in
Fresno and Tulare Counties; and District 73, in Orange and
San Diego Counties. 

All of those counties voted heavily for Mr. Simon. He had
his strongest showing in District 32, where he won 65
percent of the vote. 

The ballot will have two parts. First, voters must decide
whether Mr. Davis should be recalled. They must then choose
a successor should he lose. 

Mr. Shelley, the secretary of state, said random
alphabetical drawing had been performed for statewide
elections since 1975, following court rulings that
determined the standard alphabetical listing of candidates
was unconstitutional. Studies at the time, Mr. Shelley
said, showed that the name at the top of a ballot typically
enjoys an advantage. 

"We do it prior to every election," he said. "No one ever
comes." 

Until today. 

At least a dozen television cameras recorded Ms.
Washington's every move. A crush of radio reporters huddled
beneath the bingo barrel, their microphones extended as
close as possible to capture the clickety-clack of the
tumbling canisters. 

"We need the sound! We need the sound!" one demanded, as
officials slid the barrel closer to them. 

The interest from the news media and the public was so
great - even a few lesser-known candidates showed up - that
the event was moved from a small room into an auditorium in
the secretary of state's building. 

There Mr. Shelley was introduced with Pat Sajak fanfare
(his entrance from stage right was announced in advance for
the cameras) and then fielded questions. Afterwards, "a
five-minute intermission" was announced for journalists to
prepare for the drawing. 

"This is a big test for California," Mr. Shelley said
before exiting stage left for San Francisco. "History will
be our witness." 

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/12/national/12RECA.html?ex=1061699517&ei=1&en
=085f8513b421ef77