CA: Candidate asks for a recount (State Senate

A recount of ballots cast in last week's special primary for the 35th District state Senate seat is expected to begin today and could be finished early next week, officials said, but it will be a historic anomaly if it changes the election's outcome.

In the April 11 election, Republican Huntington Beach Assemblyman Tom Harman beat GOP opponent and Dana Point City Councilwoman Diane Harkey by 236 votes, becoming his party's nominee on the June 6 ballot. In the general election, Harman will face Democrat Larry Caballero, who was the only other candidate on last week's ballot.

The special election was called in December after incumbent Sen. John Campbell was elected to a U.S. House seat. The 35th District represents Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, and all or part of 13 other Orange County cities.

After the 98,344 votes were counted -- including absentee and provisional ballots -- Harman had 38.8% of the votes, and Harkey claimed 38.5%. Acting Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley certified the election results Monday, and Harkey asked for a recount Tuesday.

"We're going to start with the election day voters," Harkey campaign consultant Scott Hart said, adding that a full hand recount was requested.

It will cost Harkey $2,000 a day to have four teams of election workers counting ballots. Harkey and Harman each will have supporters observing the count.

Hart said Harkey wanted a recount because the margin between the candidates was so small.

"Because of the support Diane had, she owes it to the people who supported her to make sure all of their votes counted," Hart added.

Harman said he was surprised by how close the election was, but he's not worried that the recount will change anything.

"The registrar has repeatedly told me that the machines they use, the scanners that they use, are extremely accurate and he doesn't expect much of a variance," he said.

Paper ballots were used in the election because the registrar's office is working on a required update of its electronic voting machines. Federal standards require the machines that count the paper ballots to have an error rate that doesn't exceed one in 10 million, Kelly said.

Although recount requests are common in close races, Kelley said, he's not aware of any recounts in Orange County that have changed the outcome of an election.

From Steve Greenhut, OC Register. April 10, 2006

Tomorrow's race for the 35th District Senate seat to replace John Campbell is fascinating stuff. This is a solid Republican seat, covering most of coastal Orange County, and should go to a conservative candidate. Yet, it's a tough race pitting Dana Point Councilwoman Diane Harkey against Republican In Name Only Tom Harman, an Assemblyman who won his seat in the short-lived open primary, relying on union support and Democratic votes. But once a person becomes an elected official, the party is kind of stuck with that candidate for a long time. Harman again is relying on union support, mostly from the noxious prison guards union, and from a band of Indians, to move on to the Senate.
Harkey has a solid conservative outlook and a good voting record on the Dana Point City Council. She was an advocate for property rights on the council, and she is making a good run of things. This is a solid conservative district, so even though it is unlikely that either Harman or Harkey will top 50 percent of the votes in this special election, the winner of the two will ultimately win the race in the general election. The Democrat, Larry Cabellero, doesn't seem to be running any kind of race and will surely lose in the general.
In the past, Harman promoted a diaper tax and attacks on SUVs, earning him the title "Tax-hike Tom" in one Register editorial. But Harman has been careful about his votes, and his voting record comes across as rather conservative.

I'm not so sure that is an accurate assessment. Here's another outlook:

http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/2006/04/35th_sd_mailbox_7.html#comment-15908916

Tom Harman’s bad votes include the 2003 Gray Davis budget (AB 1765 – July 29, 2003) which relied on tripling the car tax and billions in new fees. Harman abandoned his Republican colleagues and teamed up with the Democrats when he cast that vote. That bad budget deal also relied upon $10 billion in borrowing and ultimately led to the recall of Gray Davis.

Among the dozens of other Harman tax votes are SB 1882, Aug 19, 2005 which would have taxed diapers. Harman also authored a bill that would circumvent Proposition 13’s 2/3 protection on bond indebtedness (ACA 13, 2005).

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