WINNERS AND LOSERS IN BALLOT-ORDER ROULETTE

Tom Rouse won his first victory in his bid to get on the Sonoma City Council, while Larry Haenel's campaign for the Santa Rosa City Council suffered a setback.

Rouse will be the first name Sonoma voters see when they peruse the list of seven candidates on their ballots, while Haenel will be the last of seven candidates listed on the ballot in Santa Rosa.

The order of their names was determined in a random drawing conducted Aug. 12 by the Secretary of State's office.

Does it really make a difference to candidates where their names appear on the ballot? Certainly voters don't simply mark the first name they see, right?

Well ...

Several studies have found that candidates whose names are listed on the top of the ballot get more votes than candidates whose names are listed underneath.

On average, candidates received 2.3 percent more votes when their names appeared first on the ballots than when their names were listed last, according to a 1998 Ohio State University study.

Researchers found that 3 percent of the 118 Ohio races they studied would have had a different outcome if a different name order was used.

A second study examining the effect in statehouse elections in Vermont between 2002 to 2006 found that candidates listed first received a boost of 3.4 percent to 8.8 percent.

Name order is more likely to have an effect on races in which voters know less about the candidates, such as nonpartisan local races, said Jon Krosnick, a professor of psychology and political science who conducted the Ohio study.

"Party affiliations act as a cue that help voters decide where a candidate stands on issues," Krosnick said in a news release announcing the results. "If voters don't know if a candidate is a Republican or a Democrat, they may be more likely to let name order influence their vote."

To make sure all candidates have a fair shot, the Secretary of State held a lottery-style drawing last Thursday, pulling one letter at a time to determine the order of candidates' names.

The winners? Candidates whose last names start with the letter "R," who will appear at the top of the ballot. The losers: Candidates whose last names start with "H," who will appear at the bottom of the ballot.

Gabe Kearney, one of nine candidates running for Petaluma City Council, savored the results of the drawing. The letter "K" was the seventh letter drawn during the lottery, good enough to propel his name to the top of the list in Petaluma.

"I can't believe I didn't tweet this last night. When you get your ballot my name will be the 1st on the list. Makes it easy to vote for me," Kearney proclaimed in a tweet to his followers.

-- Ted Appel

Watch Sonoma County

The Santa Rosa City Council on Tuesday found itself in the awkward position of lauding the man it snubbed just a few months earlier.

Late last year, a sharply divided council passed over Deputy City Manager Greg Scoles for the interim city manager position following the departure of his boss Jeff Kolin, instead tapping former Advance Planning Director Wayne Goldberg for the post. Scoles, who had been with the city since 2002, took the hint. He started looking for a new job and was quickly snapped up by the city of Belmont to be its top executive. He starts Sept. 1. At his final council meeting before departing next week, the council issued a proclamation thanking him for his work on complex projects such as The Geysers wastewater discharge system, the reuse of recycled water for urban irrigation and negotiating the city's garbage contract. Mayor Susan Gorin, who was one of the four council members who voted to hire Goldberg, thanked Scoles for his numerous contributions to the city. "You are a well-kept secret in the city, you do so many things," Gorin said. "We will miss you, and we probably won't know how much we'll miss you until you're gone."

Marsha Vas Dupre, who also voted against Scoles, thanked him for not only his work but his community involvement. "You and your family are going to be missed," she said. Vice Mayor Gary Wysocki's remarks were the briefest. He managed a "best of luck in your new surroundings. I'm sure you'll do well."

The three council members who voted to hire Scoles, Jane Bender, Ernesto Olivares and John Sawyer, were glowing in their praise. Sawyer was particularly effusive. "Thanks for your guidance and your talents and your laughter," Sawyer said. "City Hall will not resonate in quite the same way as it has before."

Scoles said working in Santa Rosa was the best job he's had in his 31-year career, but said he didn't deserve the council's praise. "All the accolades that you've tried to bestow on me really belong on the staff," he said. Gorin reminded Scoles, who is known for his sly sense of humor, that the city will host a going-away reception for him next Friday. "I'll be here till Thursday," he quipped. -- Kevin McCallum

Staff Writer