Just ran back and wrote my Web story…and I must say, that was one of the weirdest votes I’ve ever witnessed in my 20 years of reporting.

Supe Janet Nguyen — with Supe Pat Bates‘ support — attempted a secret ballot. They asked that the board allow them to write down their choice on a slip of paper and that the vote then be read aloud.

While they never used the term secret ballot — although Supe Chris Norby did — it certainly seemed like they didn’t want people to know they were voting for Sandra Hutchens.

What the heck was that about?

 Bates and Nguyen couched it by saying they didn’t want to make a “no” vote against a supremely qualified law enforcement professional (read: Paul Walters), but to my First Amendment feelings, it was an attempt to do an end-run around a public vote.

County counsel Ben de Mayo ultimately put a stop to it, saying a secret vote wasn’t allowed. But board members still decided to write down their votes, which were collected by clerk Darlene Bloom, which she then put in a coffee cup. Seriously, a coffee cup. She then read the votes aloud, which allowed the public to know which supe voted for which candidate.

An obviously frustrated Supe Chris Norby — who has been very vocal about his support of Walters for weeks and wanted a public vote two weeks ago — looked exasperated when Moorlach, as chair, allowed the paper tally.

“Just don’t give me a piece of paper, Mr. Chairman,” Norby said. “Just write ‘Walters’ on mine.”

Norby got a great laugh from the SRO crowd — which I hear was missed on the supescam via the county’s website. That went down during the debate because so many people were watching the meeting via the Internet.

(There was also an odd moment at the beginning of the debate when Moorlach suggested that they do a straw poll, then move ahead with whomever won that vote. He said he wanted a unanimous vote for sheriff. Didn’t happen.)

5:45 p.m. update — I just got a call from Nguyen, who denied that she was requesting a secret ballot. She said she wanted a simultaneous vote in hopes that it would be fair, so one supe couldn’t persuade another at the last minute.

“I wanted a written ballot cast to be able to give each of us the opportunity to simultaneously cast the vote,” she said.

Posted in: OC Government • Sheriff • Supervisors |

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