At Least Santa Clara Measure A Failed...

Yesterday was a primary election that had look-alike candidates and (to me) no compelling issues, and in which I, a person who has voted on every single election for which I've been eligible to vote, was feeling quite apathetic. A sign of that is that the issue I most wanted to hear about was Santa Clara County Measure A, and I live in Alameda County. I am relieved to see that Measure A failed, 42% Yes, 58% No.

( Rant about Santa Clara County transit politics and BART. Don't say I didn't warn you. )

Meanwhile, on the subject of low voter turnout, have a look at the Santa Clara County Election Results and scroll clear down to the final result:

Non Partisan MEASURE M

Precincts Reporting 2/2 100.00%
BONDS YES 6 60.00%
BONDS NO 4 40.00%
Total 10

Yes, this appears to be an election where only ten people voted on a bond measure for a small school district in Southern Santa Clara County. Ten people! With that small an electorate, why bother having a school board? And in this case, since 55% was required for passage, you can certainly see how every single vote mattered. Had one less person voted Yes, the measure would have failed.

Update, 13:50: Ah, I get it now. According to the district web site for the school district to which Measure M applies, the district is mostly in San Benito County, with a tiny bit in southern Santa Clara County. The results I quoted above are only for the two precincts in Santa Clara County and do not include the San Benito County votes.

Well, We Avoided Triple Digits

For about thirty seconds, the USA Eagles led the New Zealand Maori, 3-0, just after the start of the Barclay's Churchill Cup match this evening in Santa Clara. then the Maori went to town on the Eagles and began to score tries seemingly at will. The USA got one more penalty goal (and several misses from 40-plus meters out) and came within half a meter of one try, but were otherwise not much of a factor. The final score was 74-6.

NZ will play Ireland on Saturday at 2 PM at what promises to be the best of the three US pool matches. The announcer said they are predicting a sellout. (Tonight's attendance was about 3,600, which was a significant proportion of Buck Shaw Stadium. I expect the place might hold 5,000 in a pinch.) So Dave Gallaher and I had better get there early so we can get tickets.

All six teams in the tournament will go on to Edmonton for the second round, with the winners of each pool playing for the Churchill Cup, the 2nd place teams contesting for the Plate, and the 3rd place teams (probably the USA and Canada; however, if Canada upset England Saxons on Saturday, the USA will play England) playing the consolation match for the Bowl.

In the Canada pool, Scotland A squeezed out a win against Canada by a score of 15-10 and will play the winner of the NZ-Ireland A match for the Cup.

Update, Thursday 08:00: Corrected the score, put in a link to a story about the rout, and listed the results of the other pool match.