San Diego, CALIF. - Two of the most highly contested local ballot measures in the City of San Diego were defeated last night, as the voters of San Diego declined to pass Measures C and D.

With 43% voting YES and 57% voting NO, Measure C (the Chargers’ Initiative) fell far short of the 2/3 majority needed to pass. Measure D required a simple majority and  managed to receive 40% of YES votes.

The infographic below shows how past presidents rank by wealth, looking at net worth figures ranging from $7.7 million to a staggering $1.1 billion (the figures have been adjusted to 2016 dollars).

The chart also includes Trump and Clinton, as well as their expenses during the 2016 campaign.

Richest President by Net Worth. An infographic by the voucher codes website NetVoucherCodes.co.uk.

San Diego, CALIF.-Democracy is best served when the most voters are participating. That was the signature tenet of Measures K and L and it rang true with wins for the two measures that will amend the City Charter of San Diego.

Measure K won with 58% of the vote. Measure L won with 65% of the vote.

San Diego, CALIF.- The results from City Council District 9 has Georgette Gomez leading Ricardo Flores with a total 52.5% of the vote. Flores has 47.4%.  

Mail and provisional ballots still need to be counted.

On her Facebook page, Gomez commented, “Things are looking great!” with a screenshot of the count.

I'll be the first to admit, as a researcher myself, I'm a fan of statistical methods for explaining and predicting the phenomenon we see in the real world.

But with the lousy polling in 2012, mostly showing a Mitt Romney edge at the end, coupled with the abysmal projections of a Hillary Clinton blowout in the Electoral College in 2016 -- polling is now as useful as voodoo to predict politics.

Why is this?

The way Maine conducts its elections is about to change. Question 5, the Maine Ranked Choice Voting initiative, was approved by 52 percent of state voters, becoming the first state to end plurality voting for statewide races.

Ever since the end of the presidential primary season and really before the final primary contests, various media pundits have commented that Donald Trump is a danger to our democracy. If elected, Trump would establish an authoritarian regime like nothing the U.S. has ever seen.

That was the claim echoed by Bill Maher on his show Friday. If Trump is elected, Maher asserted, he will declare himself president for life and there is nothing anyone will be able to do about it.

Everyone has heard the grade school story of why we have elections on the first Tuesday in November. It was after harvest time, market days were on Wednesday, and people didn't want to have to travel on Sundays to get to the polls -- that naturally left only Tuesdays or Fridays as the option, with Fridays occasionally being holidays for many religious adherents.

Early voting numbers in Florida and other major battleground states are in, and the figures show a disproportionately high turnout among independent voters. Ignored by the pundits, analysts, and their election models, these voters could end up delivering an Election Day surprise Tuesday.

San Diego, CALIF. - More than one million mail-in ballots have been sent to voters of San Diego County. If confirmed by Registrar Michael Vu, that would represent a new record.