Computer Glitch Adds Suspense as Incumbents Win

Incumbents in the City Council, community college and unified school district races eventually emerged as winners in the Glendale Municipal Election this week, but not until everyone was held in suspense for more than 12 hours after the polls closed Tuesday.

Elected to their second four-year terms on the City Council were Mayor Larry Zarian, 49, and Councilman Jerold F. Milner, 56, both easily defeating the lone challenger, Richard G. Carr, a 40-year-old real estate broker in his first quest for office. The final tally left Milner with almost 41% of the vote; Zarian, 32%, and Carr, 27%.

The municipal election had few serious issues and drew a record low turnout, with less than 12% of the voters going to the polls. The second-worst turnout was 15% in the City Council race two years ago.

Winning a second term on the Glendale Community College board were Rae M. Berry, 69, and Robert K. Holmes, 39, who out-distanced their sole challenger, William B. Schafer, 66, a La Crescenta pediatrician.

Incumbents Sharon R. Beauchamp, 46, and Blanch M. Greenwood, 70, were unopposed for reelection to the Glendale Unified School District.

Getting the results of the election provided more suspense than the results themselves when a persistent computer equipment glitch delayed the the widely predicted outcome for hours.

None of the candidates knew the final results until 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, when weary workers in the city clerk’s office returned to their post-election stations at City Hall. Most of the workers gave up and went home late Tuesday after election results ceased to emerge from the city’s $250,000 data-processing center.

“When it gets going, it will do about 1,000 cards a minute,” commented a red-faced Robert Jorgensen, the city’s data services director in charge of Glendale’s sophisticated computer processing system. That means that the system, if it had worked, would have processed all 9,050 ballots cast in the dismal turnout in just 10 minutes.

But the computer didn’t “get going” until long after the winners, the losers and their well-wishers all had given up and gone to bed.

City Clerk Merle Hagemeyer, the official responsible for running the election, remained by himself in the largely darkened City Hall until 1 a.m. Wednesday until he, too, gave up and went home. A computer had been set up in Hagemeyer’s office from which results would be reported to the public.

Brian Butler, city director of finance, whose department tabulated the results in the nearby Public Services Building, said the count was not completed until 2 a.m. He attributed the problems to a $4,000 attachment that was supposed to feed ballots into the computer but repeatedly jammed.

“It turned into a comedy of errors,” said Butler, who described the frantic but fruitless efforts of computer experts to overcome obstacles.

Zarian, who had waited hours with several hundred well-wishers at a planned campaign victory party, said the celebration fizzled after votes had been tabulated from only 11 of the city’s 62 precincts.

“We were told the computers were down and everybody just kind of went home,” Zarian said. “It was very disappointing.”

Zarian said he was even more disappointed by the low voter turnout, which he attributed to complacency.

He said he interprets the results to indicate that the “vast majority” of the city’s almost 76,000 voters “are happy with the way things are going,” but added, “that also signals a danger because they didn’t bother to say so.”

Carr, who refused to accept campaign donations, said he was “extremely pleased and surprised at the closeness of the vote. We tried to keep the costs down and operate with a volunteer network, and it works.”

Carr campaigned to slow down growth in the city and garnered 3,935 votes, contrasted with 5,938 for Milner and 4,740 for Zarian. Carr said he is “looking forward to 1989,” when he plans to again seek election. In a message on his telephone answering machine Wednesday consoling supporters, he said, “We gave it a good fight.”

Schafer congratulated his opponents and said he has no plans to again run for a college board seat. “I feel I had an important effect on the campus, the community and students who worked with me on the campaign,” he said. “We talked about things that are going on and need to go on in the future on the campus.”

TUESDAY RESULTS Glendale 62 of 62 precincts FINAL CITY COUNCIL 2 vacancies

Vote % Jerold Milner (Inc.) 5,938 40.6 Larry Zarian (Inc.) 4,740 32.4 Richard Carr 3,935 26.9

COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD 2 vacancies

Vote % Robt. Holmes (Inc.) 5,925 37.6 Rae M. Berry (Inc.) 5,714 36.3 William B. Schafer 4,119 26.1

Incumbents Sharon R. Beauchamp and Blanch M. Greenwood were unopposed for the Unified District Board. Voter turnout 11.9% (Inc.) designates incumbent. Winners in bold type.