Ballots set aside now counted
Los Angeles County elections officials said Tuesday they have been able to count most of the Feb. 5 presidential primary ballots that had been set aside because some voters found them confusing.
Acting Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan had said that about 50,000 votes were not counted after independent voters failed to mark a bubble indicating they wanted to vote in the Democratic or American Independent party primaries.
Over the weekend, an additional 10,000 absentee and provisional ballots were processed, Logan said during an appearance before the county Board of Supervisors.
Election workers were able to determine voter intent on about 48,500 of the ballots, roughly 80%. Those votes were added to the final tally sent to the California secretary of state. The additional votes did not change the outcome of any race.
The message to the public, Logan said, should be clear: “We’re going to do whatever we can legally to make sure your vote is counted.”
Supervisors had ordered a redesign of the ballot, which elections activists said confused voters by asking that they fill in not only a bubble next to their candidate’s name but also a bubble declaring their intention to vote in a party race.
Logan also reported a voter turnout Feb. 5 of more than 55% of the county’s nearly 4 million registered voters. In the 2004 primary, 37.5% of voters cast ballots.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
