As mentioned, here's the latest updates, added to my article at:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5746
See the full article for all the details on the latest "Double Bubble" counting debacle.
I've just spoken to Bowen's office, and have added the following updates to the original article. The first was posted before speaking with them, the second after.
UPDATE 2/27/08 9:47am PT: According to Pasadena Star-News, Bowen's press spokes is quoted as saying: "Secretary Bowen is pleased that the county is taking steps to count all the votes where voter intent could be reasonably determined." While that's a bit vague, and leaves a door to counting all ballots open as I see it, I've got calls in to the SoS' office to see if I can learn more. If they confirm that her office is really fine with tossing thousands of countable votes, as you may suspect, I'd disagree. Will update here with anything additional that I'm able to learn from them.
UPDATE 2/27/08 2:00pm PT: I've now gotten to chat, about all of this, with Bowen's spokesperson, Nicole Winger, whose carefully worded statement to the Pasadena Star-News is mentioned in the update above. As I suggested there, her statement was indeed "vague" and not accidentally so. We chatted about the details of the full article above to make sure she understood that Logan is proposing discarding possibly thousands of ballots that can (and according to CA state law and constitution) must be counted. She will be sharing that information with the others in the office, including Bowen.
For the moment, she tells me that Bowen's office is still learning the details of Logan's proposed plan.
He had asked, in his Feb 25th letter [PDF] to her, detailing his new plan, for her "concurrence with the approach and intent of" his proposed counting scheme.
However, Bowen's office has notably not issued one at this time. For the moment, that's about all I can report. Will update again when/if things change...
