Is Anne Burke the Mystery Woman of the School Board that was 40 percent reconfigured hours ago?
As the calendar changed from Tuesday clothes into Wednesday’s garb, as the final score from the three-way race for two chairs trundled into the Ehrlich home in Sunset Park, it occurred that more is unknown about Ms. Burke than the other two contenders.
Voters knew enough, however, to rank her a solid second to Dr. Kent, 427 votes back, and the other new space on the School Board.
Did not seem that way during the 100-day campaign.
Dr. Kelly Kent, Scott McVarish and Ms. Burke personalized every appearance. Sparing no detail, they shared – or seemed to reveal — all crannies and nooks of their biographies except the sizes of their ski boots.
Although plenty willing to talk about her earlier life, a Boston area native, oldest of nine, daughter of a Thai-born mother, first college student – with two Master’s degrees — in her frequently moving family, Ms. Burke nonetheless seemed to leave a veil in place that spawns subsequent intrigue.
Now that we know where she will be for the next four years, there is ample time to explore.
The hour was late, and so far the only posted count was absentee ballots – once again an accurate predictor of the finish – Dr. Kent, Ms. Burke, Mr. McVarish.
How did Ms. Burke feel?
“Well, it’s not the end yet,” she said with a smile in the living room of the Ehrlichs. “Without knowing the results, I am still anxiously awaiting the final numbers.
“I am trying not to make any assumptions or conclusions.”
How did she spend Election Day?
“I did some trying-to-get-out-the-vote, near schools and online.
“Then I went to lunch with my campaign treasurer (Crystal Alexander, former city treasurer). We took a leisurely walk in the marina where we tried to discuss anything not related to the campaign. I was trying to free my mental state for awhile.”
So sedate Ms. Burke doffed her mental sandals and waded through a cerebral salad of feelings about the School Board race.
Which is easier, pondering or avoiding?
Ms. Burke laughed.
“Trying to not think about something actually is more exhausting than thinking about it,” and she laughed again.
Then That Dreaded Subject stepped out of its coffin.
“I was worried – I knew from the online chatter, through social media that many of Kelly’s friends were really advocating for bullet voting.
“Because of that, that gave me some worries that people weren’t going to exercise voting for a second person, which is…”
If it were doable, should bullet voting be prohibited?
“I have mixed feelings about that. Everyone should be able to exercise their right the way they want to. At the same time, sometimes it creates unfair situations. Really, it does an injustice to the public, as in this case: When there are two open seats, why wouldn’t you vote for two?
“Some people,” said Ms. Burke, “call it conscience voting. They are afraid to call it bullet voting. “I call it the opposite of conscience voting. The reality is, I don’t know. Sure, it’s allowed, but I don’t know if it is a best practice.”
“I have mixed feelings about that. Everyone should be able to exercise their right the way they want to. At the same time, sometimes it creates unfair situations. Really, it does an injustice to the public…”
Many have said this about the slate. There are two open seats, why wouldn’t you all run separately and let the public learn about you each individually and decide? I know, I know, share resources and create a stronger backing by coming on as two instead of one – but that just serves to help the candidates and push their agenda, how does that help the voters exactly?
Could it be the slate strategy backfired and forced bullet voting? If you supported Kelly and wanted her to win, you vote for her. As for your second vote, well, they ran together and didn’t make an effort to differentiate themselves so by not casting a vote for the second, you were essentially voting for the slate they represented. You were saying, I want Kelly to have one seat, and the second seat can go to one of the other two, doesn’t matter who since they represent the same ideas, I’ll let their supporters decide who they like best. Had you cast a vote for one of the other two, you would be hurting your one candidate you want to win since you already know the other two are getting the votes from their people.
Look at the numbers:
Kelly got 1888 votes. That’s 1,888 voters who wanted Kelly to have one of the seats, 1461 for Anne and 1228 for Scott. So right off the bat, more voters in Culver City wanted Kelly to have the first open seat.
Let’s assume for arguments sakes, Kelly’s votes are all bullet votes. So that means there would be 1888 second votes left unmade. Let’s say those 1888 votes are split between Anne and Scott. That would now give Anne 2405 votes, and Scott 2172, leaving Kelly without a seat. But the majority of voters wanted Kelly to have a seat? Is that really fair to the voting public? Had she came in second and was really close to the 3rd place, I would see how wondering about bullet voting playing a part, but bullet voting or not, Kelly was the clear favorite.
I don’t know, other than people admitting it, how one would even know bullet voting occurred but I am failing to see how it’s unconscionable.
These are my thoughts aimed at starting a dialogue. My motivation is to give the power back to the voters where it belongs. I have no ill feelings towards Anne and look forward to getting to know her and working with her.
It’s in my nature to do this, so let’s go straight to the bottom line of this, shall we?
First off, congratulations to School Board Members elect Anne Burke and Kelly Kent. Hat’s off to Scott McVarish also, for winning a substantial number of votes, if not the election. I trust he’ll stay deeply involved, as we need community minded people like him.
Now, as to the numbers. One candidate did indeed receive the highest vote total. A quick examinations of total voters and total votes cast suggests a lot of votes were “left on the table” as each voter could have voted for two candidates. Many chose not to and whether or not this is attributable to two candidates taking a team approach is only known by each individual voter. Bullet voting seems to suggest a certain single mindedness by some of the electorate, but at least they voted! The vast majority of our registered voters sadly did not.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether the top vote getter won by 1o votes or 1,00o votes. Each School Board Member is a single vote on a body of five individuals who have been entrusted to deal with broad policy issues concerning public education in the CCUSD. We will expect each and every one of the five Board Members to keep listening to the community, represent its interests and coalesce into a team that will advance our school district to the next level.
Thank you Crystal. As usual, you make a lot of sense.
Yes, as Crystal aptly stated, “The vast majority of our registered voters sadly did not [vote].” My guesstimate is that we had only about 3000 (out of a population of 40,000) who voted in this election.
Out of fairness to taxpayers who foot the bill for this exercise in democracy called voting, and out of respect for the candidates who give of themselves tirelessly to win a seat for what is basically a volunteer position whether on our School Board or City Council, I strongly urge all concerned voters to look into consolidating elections.
I believe this will help both promote more civic involvement and motivate more to get out and vote while saving some time, energy and money for all of us.
What do you think?
Agreed we need to get more people involved. Based on the number of mailers that went out, phone calls that were made and homes that were visited, I know more people knew about the election than voted. So of those who knew there was an election, I can only assume they didn’t care enough to vote for school board, didn’t like any of the 3 candidates so chose not to use their two votes at all, or couldn’t make it to the polls in time. Many reasons why they didn’t vote and I don’t know how to fix it but I am eager to help get more people out to vote.
So Crystal, Jeanine, Suzanne, I don’t know you in person, but if we all agree we need to get the community more excited about our local elections, let’s work together to make it happen!