As Mail Balloting Dominates Bay Area Elections, When Should Losers Concede?

Sure, concession speeches are "places candidates gain grace points for style and courtesy," especially if they intend to have a future in politics, he said. But imagine how a candidate looks if, after months of touting herself as the right choice, she congratulates and possibly even pledges support to her rival -- and then has to walk back that pledge days later.

The quandary has become more commonplace because many Californians now sign up for permanent vote-by-mail ballots. But they often wait until the last minute and drop those ballots at their neighborhood polling places on Election Day. County election workers then face a painstaking process of comparing every signature on those ballots to the signatures on file -- a process that can take weeks. 

Meanwhile, the politicians agonize.

More @ SJ Mercury News