Our mayoral election in San Francisco is coming up in November. I've been following it a bit, but I've certainly not decided yet on who I'm going to vote for. Not only that, but we have a ranked choice voting system, which means you can vote for up to three people for mayor, and each round of counting drops the bottom first choice candidate with the least number of votes, and counts the second vote on that ballot instead. It continues until someone has 50 percent plus one of the vote, thereby eliminating runoff elections. Follow me below the squiggle to hear about the robopoll I got today.
When the phone rang, the voice told me to hang up if I wasn't a registered voter. I stayed on the line to see what the poll was about. It was concerning the San Francisco mayoral election.
Let me explain, as a side note, that our mayor, Gavin Newsom, left office early to run for and win the office of Lieutenant Governor of California. With a mayoral opening, the Board of Supervisors, who often don't play well together, had to select a replacement. Ed Lee, a long-time city administrator, accepted the interim position, explaining that he had no desire to be mayor, and that he would serve in a caretaker capacity and not run in the future.
However, he has been the focus of a movement to get him to run, and he just decided to get into the race. He's a little conservative for me, but he's been doing a pretty good job. I just couldn't vote for him because he gave his word and then went back on it.
There were eight candidates on the automated poll list (a ninth just entered the race today with an hour to go before the deadline) and the voice read all of the names and assigned each a number, and asked who I would vote for if the election were held today. Since the election isn't being held today and I haven't made up my mind, I chose "9" for "undecided."
Then the voice asked me which candidate I would definitely not vote for, and started to read the list. As soon as I heard "Ed Lee," I pushed the "1" button because I can't vote for someone who gave his word that he wouldn't run and then changed his mind. There are other candidates I would not vote for, but as soon as I pressed the "1", the voice told me it was a PPP poll and disconnected.
I thought that was a little strange, as I was waiting for an opportunity to tell them what other candidates I wasn't going to vote for. Had one of those other candidates been number one, my selection would have been different. I can't see the value of this poll, unless it was paid for by a different candidate who is sitting down by number 8, figuring everyone dislikes more than one candidate, and no one will get there.
The oddest thing was, I got another robocall about twenty minutes later with the same poll. I answered the same way, so now I have been double counted!