Activists Challenge Poll’s Credibility

An online Orange. County. Register article about Mission Viejo’s Rose Parade float contains a poll in which readers can vote [“Mission Viejo float efforts cost more than $360,000,” Wed., Jan. 7]. The article indicates that the float’s cost exceeded the budgeted amount of $300,000, and it’s still rising. The article can be found at: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mission-viejo-float-2275593-city-parade#slComments

The poll question within the article is: What do you think Mission Viejo got from its investment in a Tournament of Roses float? 1) Nothing, except the bills; 2) A greater sense of community, 3) An improved image and a higher profile.

By midday on Jan. 7, trends were emerging with nearly 100 votes cast. Approximate percentages were 1) Nothing, except bills = 68 percent; 2) A greater sense of community = 24 percent; 3) An improved image and a higher profile = 8 percent.

By late Wednesday night, however, hundreds of votes had poured in for the second choice, “A greater sense of community.” Mission Viejo activists are among those who watched the surge of votes. Two activists called attention to hundreds of votes that were added at approximately 11 p.m. on Wednesday. Repeated surges added only pro-float votes. On Thursday, a similar boost pumped up No. 3, the “image” choice, which had been trailing.

By noon on Saturday, the total was 1,080 votes. As a remarkable phenomenon, the number had changed by less than 10 votes in more than 16 hours. While one could say the poll was growing old, the mysterious surges came to an abrupt halt. Perhaps someone adding votes found better things to do.

An activist saw the numbers increase at a rate and a time of day that pointed to one person doing most of the voting. The activist commented, “Actually, there seemed to be a 'bot voting [to support the float]. I was seeing a constant increase at a steady rate for about an hour late last night [Wednesday], a sure sign that someone is fooling the voting tool. Since it uses cookies, simple tools could be used to perform the automated voting. Since MUK [MacLean, Ury, Kelley] could not win in a fair election, they decided to steal the poll.”

A reader posted on the OC Register discussion board, “Thanks to a tip from a MV resident, we now have an explanation of why the poll ‘numbers’ are jumping 100 at a time.”

Wait a minute. Is MUK or city hall the only plausible connection? What about the Register itself? The writer of the article, Lindsey Baguio, has written favorable articles about the float since the day Councilman Lance MacLean made the motion to proceed. Would a skewed poll favoring the float not vindicate her promo pieces for the float? OC Register team leader Ron Gonzales posted a comment online after a reader challenged the legitimacy of the poll when the “votes” came in batches late at night. Gonzales indicated the Register would determine if automated voting had taken place.

Following the “surge” votes on Wednesday and Thursday, the percentages stood at 1) Nothing, except bills = 20 percent; 2) A greater sense of community = 52 percent; 3) An improved image and a higher profile, 28 percent.

According to storefront polling since Jan. 1, the Rose Parade float has a very a low percentage of supporters while the community at large is disgusted that the city council threw away at least $360,000 for two minutes of TV time. City hall has attempted to counter the negative reaction by pumping press releases into newspapers, generating a dozen articles with color photos. But the PR effort is backfiring. Instead of persuading residents that the float was a terrific idea, each article has made residents more aware of the wasteful project and only heightened their disgust.