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Records Set for Early Voters, Absentee Ballots

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Times Staff Writers

A record number of Los Angeles County residents used touch-screen voting machines to cast ballots before today’s election, a process that went smoothly except for brief periods of long lines.

Officials said the high turnout reflects the keen national interest in the presidential race.

About 65,000 people cast ballots at 17 touch-screen sites between Oct. 20 and Monday, more than a 50% increase from the 42,666 who took advantage of early voting in last October’s gubernatorial recall election.

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“It’s a harbinger of a lot of interest in this election,” said Conny McCormack, the county registrar of voters. “People learned four years ago it does matter if you vote.”

Officials reported some hourlong lines Sunday but no other problems with touch-screen voting, introduced in Los Angeles County in the 2000 presidential race.

At the registrar’s Norwalk headquarters Monday, the wait to use 27 touch screens varied from 15 to 40 minutes most of the day. At least 2,000 people had voted there by the 5 p.m. closing time, spending an average of 10 minutes marking their ballots by touching choices displayed on a computer screen.

“I thought it was very fast, very easy,” said Corinne Carlos, 47, of Monterey Park.

In addition to touch-screen voters, a record-breaking 762,910 county residents requested absentee ballots.

McCormack thinks the county may see its highest voting turnout ever, surpassing the record 2.7 million who went to the polls in 2000. “It could be as high as 3 million voters this time,” she said.

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Boxer Calls Voting an Exercise of Power

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, spent the last day of the campaign in the Bay Area, her political and family home, where she urged volunteers to bring voters to the booths today as an exercise of personal power.

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With a solid double-digit lead in the polls against Republican Bill Jones, an opponent who never gained traction among voters, Boxer focused mostly on the presidential race, seeking to link some Democrats’ fears of voting chicanery in close states to voter-turnout efforts in California.

Today is “judgment day,” Boxer told about 60 supporters gathered in a Fairfield parking lot.

“It’s a day when the American people are going to understand the power that they really have, and it is an amazing power,” Boxer said. “We can’t be afraid of it. They’re going to try to dampen voter turnout, make people turn away, make them think it’s not a big deal, voting. Voting is a big deal.”

Boxer repeated earlier warnings that for Democrats to win in California, and nationally, they need to reach out to independents, Greens, moderate and liberal Republicans, and others who might find common ground on policy if not on party identification.

Jones, a former secretary of state, made the rounds at Republican Party headquarters in several cities, trying to stir up enthusiasm for a campaign that has been stuck in the shadows of the presidential campaign and a confusing batch of state initiatives. A high Republican turnout -- along with a low Democratic turnout and a swing of independent voters toward his candidacy -- has been cited by Jones as his recipe for victory.

After the last-day appearances in Walnut Creek, Sacramento, Commerce and Yorba Linda, Jones held a reception in Costa Mesa for his campaign staff and local volunteers.

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That was his last scheduled campaign event. Jones will vote in Fresno today, then join supporters at the Fresno GOP’s election night party. Breaking tradition, he did not plan to attend the state Republican Party’s get-together in Orange County.

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