The June primary is 13 days away – time for a status check on the voting in Anaheim.
There are three charter amendments on the June ballot: Measure C (technical charter cleanups), D (two-year mayoral terms) and E (legalizing safe-and-sane fireworks). There’s no campaign for C; voter contact on either side of the D question is thus far limited to sate cards and an anti-D robocall from Tom Tait; virtually all voter contact on E has been from the “Yes” side, although a “No on E” mailer reportedly hit today.
Our rockin’ Orange County Registrar of Voters, Neal Kelley, has a website that’s chock-full of data that’s updated on a daily basis (I believe). Currently, there are 123,091 registered voters in Anaheim:
Democrats have a slight edge, but given lower turnout among that’s party’s voters, Republicans have a practical advantage. [Side-note: this is why the Left is hell-bent on carving the city into single-member council districts based on racial/ethnic criteria. Anaheim is the largest city in California with a Republican-majority city council. While that reality is seemingly lost on the much of the leadership of the OC GOP, Democrats are keenly aware of it – and are doing something about it. If Anaheim does move to single-member council districts, look for the city council to move to a Democratic majority within a couple of election cycles.]
A little more than half of Anaheim voters – 64,350 cast vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots:
Again, Democrats enjoy a small numerical advantage.
Orange County began sending out VBM ballots on May 5 – the first day allowed by state law.
4,225 VBMs have been cast thus far, which is slightly below the county-wide return rate (6.5% v 8.9%). Note that while there are more Democratic than GOP vote-by-mail voters in Anaheim, more Republicans than Democrats are returning their ballots.
“Again, Democrats enjoy a small numerical advantage.”
A 14% advantage over the Republican’s in a system rigged for Anaheim Hills overrepresentation is nothing to sneeze at …
Yeah – that every-person-has-an-equal-vote thing is really annoying.
Please vote NO on Measure E to allow the sales of so called “Safe and Sane” fireworks in the city of Anaheim. As a long term resident of Anaheim (I have lived here since 1974) I have seen the city with and without the sale of fireworks. While you cannot argue with the financial benefit the sale of fireworks brings to civic organizations, the impact they have on the health and safety of residents, both human and animal, is horrible. Consider:
• Every year animals go missing and are never found or die because they are hit by cars. These animals are terrified.
• There are many modifications that can be made to “Safe and Sane” fireworks that make them no longer either.
• In the cities where these products are legal, during the time it is legal to sell and several days past that deadline, the emergency room visits go up dramatically due to injures directly attributed to these products.
• With all of the noise and confusion caused by “safe and sane” fireworks, it is virtually impossible for authorities to enforce restrictions against illegal fireworks. For example, in the city of La Mirada around the 4th of July, it is very similar to living in a war zone. There are large, illegal fireworks going off for almost a week straight.
• Disneyland does fireworks 280+ nights a year. Do we really need to pollute our streets and cause harm to our residents?
• The amount of money collected by these fireworks stands is substantial and invites crime. This in conjunction with the issued caused by fireworks will put an additional strain on police and fire resources at a time when they are needed most.
I only found out about Measure E last night, 5/21. Imagine my surprise when I received the flyer and after thoroughly reading found that “significant funding” for this Measure is provide by TNT Fireworks, a very large international manufacturer of fireworks. This is similar to Big Tobacco funding the repeal of smoking restrictions or Alcohol manufactures lobbying to reduce the drinking age.
While I agree that celebrating the 4th of July with fireworks has been a tradition since the Declaration of Independence was first signed. Vote NO on Measure E with the “free” Disneyland fireworks, there is no reason to allow the danger to Anaheim citizens caused by the supposed “Safe and Sane” fireworks.