Early Turnout in State Runs 11% Behind ’82

In numbers that approached historically low levels, Californians went to the polls Tuesday to pick a governor and a U.S. senator and pass judgment on the state’s most controversial judge, Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird.

They also tackled ballot propositions on AIDS, toxic discharge and the English language.

“Voter turnout appears to be in keeping with what we had expected. If the current trend continues, it will mean between 55% and 60% of California’s registered voters participated in the election,” said Caren Daniels-Meade, spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s elections office. “Unfortunately, that means we may be in the process of setting a record low.”

‘Laid Back’

At early evening, state officials said voting statewide was running 11% behind the pace of four years ago. At 4 p.m., barely a third of the registered voters had gone to the polls, compared to 44% in 1982.

Pollster Richard Maullin said in an interview, “If the law didn’t require us to have an election this year, we probably wouldn’t have bothered with one. As California elections go, this one was a little laid back.”

The race that once seemed destined to stir up voters was the confirmation test for Bird for another 12-year term as chief justice. Experts said, however, they believe that public opinion polls showing her all but doomed contributed to the overall voter indifference.

On the ballot along with Bird for confirmation votes were five other justices of the seven-member Supreme Court. Three are fellow liberals appointed by Democratic governors: Justices Stanley Mosk, Cruz Reynoso and Joseph R. Grodin. Reynoso and Grodin attracted organized opposition in the elections by groups contending that the two, along with Bird, are standing in the way of the death penalty.

Two conservative justices to the high court were on the ballot, Edward A. Panelli and Malcolm M. Lucas.

The election of a governor was a rematch from 1982, and the Senate contest was a test between an old-fashioned liberal and a GOP pragmatist with an odd name who came from nowhere, thanks in part to a gush of business support.

Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston, one of California’s most durable political figures, was seeking to be the first California senator elected to a fourth six-year term since Hiram Johnson did it in 1934. He also was seeking to be a liberal survivor in this conservative era.

High-Tech Background

The Republican challenger, two-term Rep. Ed Zschau, was the newest and fastest-rising star in his party. He sought to capitalize on the glamour of his high-technology entrepreneurial background.

The race attracted extra attention around the nation because of the struggle between Democrats and Republicans for majority control in the U.S. Senate.

The governor’s race featured incumbent Republican George Deukmejian, asking for a second term of four years, against Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, who was trying once again to fulfill his dream of being the nation’s first black elected governor. Bradley lost in 1982 by 93,345 votes, or 1%.

For those two races, campaign spending approached a staggering $40 million.

Election Day in California, of course, wouldn’t be complete without some glitches and challenges.

Never mind apathy elsewhere. It was a positively fiery election in El Dorado County, west of Lake Tahoe in the northeastern edge of the state. There, 314 firefighters voted during breaks in their battle against a 265-acre forest fire.

Voting on Duty

The fire broke out Monday, and by early Tuesday it became apparent that fire crews would still be on the lines when the polls closed. So the U.S. Forest Service sent word to elections officials in nearby Placerville to figure out a way for the firefighters to vote.

Michele MacIntyre, the elections supervisor in El Dorado County, said she contacted state and regional elections officials and got approval for the crews to vote by absentee ballot.

Her husband, Pacific Bell switchman Jay MacIntyre, borrowed a phone company truck, was deputized as an elections judge, and lugged ballots up to the fire’s front lines Tuesday afternoon.

The fire, centered near tiny Georgetown about 25 miles north of Placerville, was expected to be under control today.

Not so smoothly solved was the problem facing some San Francisco voters who went to the polls Tuesday morning only to find them closed. Ross Travis, chief deputy registrar for San Francisco County, said 13 of the county’s 710 precincts were affected by delays.

Travis said that there is usually a smattering of delays in the 7 a.m. opening but that this year’s total was a “high number.” He said all of the polls were opened by 11 a.m.

The delays were caused when inspectors and judges did not show up at their assigned precincts while lines of voters formed outside. “The reasons were everything from the inspector being taken to hospital the night before to the backup inspector getting lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood to the unknown,” Travis said.

The statewide ballot listed 13 propositions, numbered 53 to 65, and there were local measures in some communities. The entire state Assembly, half of the state Senate and California’s delegation to the House of Representatives, at 45 the largest in the nation, also stood for election Tuesday. So did candidates for lieutenant governor, attorney general, state controller, secretary of state, state treasurer and the four elected districts of the State Board of Equalization.

Smooth Operation

In Southern California, voting appeared to be running smoothly into the evening, with turnout substantially below that in the 1982 general election. At 4 p.m., 34.6% of registered voters had gone to the polls, compared to 41.57% at the same time four years ago.

In Orange County, the turnout was running six points behind 1982’s when measured in late afternoon.

Part of the reason suspected for the stay-home attitude of many voters was the negative and gloomy tone of the campaigns. If voters needed any reason to throw up their hands and believe that politicians were living up to their worst stereotypes, all they needed to do was turn on the TV and watch the commercials.

There were charges that various candidates were captives of their selfish contributors or soft on international terrorists, squishy on drug pushers or lackluster on law enforcement. There were spirited battles to see who could smear whom as California’s king of pollution.

“Tar Wars!” declared Kenneth L. Khachigian, speech writer for President Reagan and adviser to Deukmejian.

The race for state government’s No. 2 job was just such a battle. It featured two lieutenant governors--the incumbent, Leo T. McCarthy, and the former, Mike Curb, in a million-dollar advertising contest that spilled over into a million-dollar libel suit.

Looking Ahead

In truth, the race for lieutenant governor was more of an election about tomorrow’s politics than today’s. The two candidates, McCarthy, the Democrat, and Curb, the Republican, realize that the winner will be in prime position to try for higher office in the future.

The only statewide political office without an incumbent seeking reelection was for state controller. It was a contest between two state legislators, Democratic Assemblyman Gray Davis of Los Angeles and Republican Sen. William Campbell of Hacienda Heights.

Other statewide contests were dominated by incumbent Democrats seeking reelection: Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, Secretary of State March Fong Eu and Treasurer Jesse M. Unruh. Unruh had no major-party challenger. Eu ran against Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande. Van de Kamp had the token opposition of San Fernando Valley attorney Bruce Gleason.

Ballot propositions, a feature of California elections that always seem to generate controversy and interest, asked voters to decide whether AIDS should be classified as a communicable disease (Proposition 64), whether new rules and prohibitions should govern toxic waste discharge (Proposition 65) and whether English should be officially deemed the official language (Proposition 63).

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Cathleen Decker and Carl Ingram.