Can anyone explain to this confused bystander just why the vote tabulation was soooo messed up in the first place in this particular district?

I don’t think the vote tabulation was particularly messed up. These sorts of shufflings happen in every district in every election. (Just check out the SBE’s history of changes for any locality in any race.) It’s just that they’re noticed when the tally is so close.

Do those numbers include the absentee ballots from those precincts?

They do not, no, for precisely the reason that you cite. That’s an interesting point about the re-assignation of absentee ballots—I never thought about that.

“With the vote counting process almost complete, it has become clear that there have been a number of reporting irregularities – including the misplacement of paper ballots and tape records from electronic machines and miscalculations in vote tallies. In fact, almost 20% of all the voting precincts in the district had reporting errors. While current unofficial tallies have me trailing my opponent, these irregularities have cast doubt on the reported totals. It is essential that we get to the bottom of these problems and insist on a thorough and proper vote counting process. We will continue to fight to make sure that every single legitimate vote in the 5th District is accurately counted and reported.”

I can’t say that I blame him. I would probably do the exact same thing in his shoes. There should be a rec-count, or a re-canvas I should say. One which I would expect Tom Periello to still come out ahead in, but it should be done anyway so that people can have confidence in the result.