ELECTIONS ’88 : Election Notebook : Baker Worker Calls on Cox to Vote

Erik Skaggs, UC Irvine student body president and a volunteer in C. David Baker’s congressional campaign, couldn’t resist.

He was working the phone Tuesday, getting out the vote, and called rival C. Christopher Cox’s headquarters.

“I said, ‘Hi, I’m Erik Skaggs from the Dave Baker for Congress campaign. I’m wondering if Chris Cox was able to get out and vote today.’ ”

It was a dig at revelations during the campaign that Cox has not voted since the June 1984 California primary.

Skaggs then hung up. (Yes, Cox did vote.)

Ah, election day. When all the precincts have been walked, all the mailers have been posted, all the charges have been denied and all the mud has been slung, it is time finally for the candidates to sit back and let the voters do the work.

State and local Republicans ensconced themselves at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange Tuesday night, and the spirit of free enterprise reigned.

The Republicans were selling everything imaginable, from $4 George Bush pins that played the “Star-Spangled Banner” to $1 Dallas pins left over from the 1984 Republican National Convention. A cup of coffee went for $1.25, domestic beer was $3 and a cup of wine cost a stiff $6.

The Republicans apparently cut costs in the press room set up at the Doubletree. There were no telephones, making it virtually useless to journalists.

Meanwhile at the Democratic wingding. . .

About 100 Democrats gathered at Tiny’s restaurant in Santa Ana, the traditional election night watering hole for that party. Baskets of chicken wings were passed frequently. Beer and wine were the drinks of choice. A raffle for two Linda Ronstadt concert tickets competed with the Lakers-Pistons pro basketball game on the TV in the bar.

As the absentee ballot returns were read, one Democrat mused about the Lakers’ loss and the final score: “The only numbers I’m concerned about are 105-93.”

In Supervisor Roger R. Stanton’s room at the Doubletree, the vote tally was marked on a scoreboard. Stanton’s name was written in Superman script. His opponent, Ron May, was listed as “What’s His Name.”

It was Don Tanney’s first election day as registrar of voters, the county’s No. 1 ballot counter. While overall the day was proceeding “incredibly smoothly,” at 5 p.m. he was still looking for one precinct inspector.

That election worker never showed up with the ballots for an Irvine precinct. The other three officials at that precinct reported on time but had no ballots or key to get in.

The problem was resolved by rushing out a new batch of ballots, opening a polling place nearby and posting signs directing voters to the new location, Tanney said, adding that no one was disenfranchised.

But at another precinct, in Costa Mesa, two voters nearly got to vote twice. A precinct worker handed a man and his wife ballots for both the Republican and Democratic primary.

The man realized the error before the precinct worker did and promptly handed one ballot back, as did his wife. He then gave the worker a “very short course in civics.”

For Lucia De Garcia, a Colombian who became a naturalized citizen during the 100th anniversary celebration of the Statue of Liberty, her first trip to the ballot box Tuesday was moving.

“I sat there and I cried. It was so peaceful. All my life, all I saw were violence and killings,” the Irvine businesswoman said, reflecting on the changes between her homeland and her adopted country as she sat in congressional candidate Nathan Rosenberg’s campaign headquarters.

“Here we are, and everyone is dancing. In South America, everywhere there was killing. . . . You have no idea how I feel today. I don’t take this for granted.”

Times staff writers Jess Bravin, Jim Carlton, Steven R. Churm, Andrea Ford, Maria La Ganga, Don Lipman, Dana Parsons, Ray Perez and Nancy Wride contributed to this article.