Font ResizeBECAUSE most proposed local tax proposals require a two-thirds vote for approval by voters these days (one no vote equals two of the yes variety), it is becoming much easier to get a handle on their potential for success or failure on Election Night almost as soon as the polls close.
That's because absentee ballots now make up such a big portion of the total votes cast.
So it's no wonder that those with a big stake in these taxes stare into their computer screens at 8:05 p.m. when absentee returns (from those who vote early by mail) are posted by the County Elections Office via the Internet.
True to form last week, three important planned taxes — measures N, O and P — were all failing when absentee ballots were reported at 8:05 p.m. last Tuesday. Measures N and P were education parcel taxes; O was a countywide sales tax levy for parks and open space.
As of this weekend, it looks like the absentees (a full 62 percent of those voting in this latest election as of the latest vote count Friday) ruled the day again.
Measure O easily went down to defeat and the outcomes of N and P remained iffy but appeared to be heading for rejection as well.
The moral to be found in these statistics is: Election Day itself is fast becoming, if not irrelevant, pretty close to that condition.
As one Peninsula poll worker put it last Tuesday as he surveyed routinely empty voting booths, "We
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OH, TO BE 72 — Sheri Arnold's big 50th birthday bash up in the Burlingame hills last weekend drew dozens of guests and generated spirited conversations and animated discussions throughout the chilly evening.
Over in one corner, an older gentleman who had plopped himself onto a sofa regaled a covey of companions with several tales about him and his ex-wife, for whom little love was lost.
In fact, he bristled at one point, "She's two years younger than me. I wish I was 72 so that she'd be 70. She'd really hate that."
Ouch. Talk about an old marital wound festering right into the new millenium.
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COLORING BOOK — Bill Demarco, a national security affairs fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, was in San Mateo last week.
He was speaking about how the Air Force is ratcheting up military security in matters of cyberspace.
As part of his discussion, he noted that there is some natural trepidation on the part of the armed services as a potential new administration looms in the White House.
Demarco said he's apolitical and intends to hunker down, "grab my crayons and my coloring book" and "shut up." No sense becoming a target of any nervous bigwigs in these changing times.
Reach John Horgan at 650-348-4334. Check out his blog, Read It and Rant, at www.sanmateocountytimes.com.
