California Voters Facing a Long List of Decisions Today

A hot presidential race, a bare-knuckled battle of insurance initiatives and a U.S. Senate contest lead the parade as Californians vote today.

There are also two AIDS initiatives, another on cigarette taxes and one that would restore a state program for enforcing worker health and safety standards in the private sector.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“The earlier you vote the better, and we especially recommend the hours of mid-morning and mid-afternoon since the polling places are not crowded then,” said Caren Daniels-Meade, spokeswoman for the California secretary of state.

Because there are 29 statewide initiatives and numerous local ones on the ballot, some state officials fear lines could be long at some polling places.

But Daniels-Meade said she is optimistic because of a record number of absentee voters this year.

“We’ve got almost 2 million absentee ballots this year out of a projected 10.4 million voters in this election,” Daniels-Meade said. “Also, we hope a lot of people will go into the booth with their choices ready on the ballot initiatives.”

She said the number of absentee ballots cast this time will be double the number in November, 1984. State Republicans continued their strong promotion of this way of voting, and the Democrats stepped up their efforts too. Daniels-Meade noted that anyone who has not mailed in his or her absentee ballot should turn it in at his or her polling place or county registrar’s office.

With Latinos making up about 8% of voters, it was unclear what the effect on voting would be of a 1986 law change that rules out mass printing of non-English ballots.

Los Angeles County continued its previous procedure of sending out sample ballots in Spanish upon request, and one Spanish-language ballot will be available at each polling place for voters to study, said Henrietta Willis, a spokeswoman for the registrar-recorder’s office.

In the presidential race, Republican George Bush and Democrat Michael S. Dukakis campaigned down to the wire in California.

Bush was here Sunday and Dukakis held a rally in San Francisco Monday morning and a huge rally at UCLA in Los Angeles Monday night.

Dukakis led in California during the summer, opinion polls showed, but Bush pulled ahead in October. The race may have tightened up late last week, although Bush was leading by 6 percentage points in the latest California Poll.

Big Electoral Prize

From the start, strategists in both parties have said that Dukakis must take California’s 47 electoral votes if he is to have any chance of putting together the 270 required to win the White House.

Because of his solid base in the Southeast and in the Rocky Mountain states, Bush had a little more wiggle room in the contest, but he took nothing for granted, campaigning as hard in California as Dukakis did.

The Democratic ticket has won the state only once--in 1964--since 1948.

This time the Democrats spent $4.5 million to put together an extensive get-out-the-vote effort statewide.

The Republicans have also put together a major turnout effort, according to state coordinator Bill Hussey.

“We concentrate on the top 10 counties (in population) and in a close race our volunteers could make the difference as they walk precincts and use phone banks to get out the vote,” said Hussey.

Senate Contestants

Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson and his challenger, Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, fought it out, almost unnoticed at times, for one of the most coveted jobs in American politics.

Wilson, first elected in 1982, worked hard to expand his Republican base, going after environmentalists and pro-Israel voters Democrats often count on.

He campaigned Monday with President Reagan in his base of San Diego and Orange counties.

McCarthy campaigned often with Dukakis, including Monday, when the two appeared at a large, upbeat rally on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

But for all of the battling over the presidency and the Senate, it was the battle of insurance industry propositions that captured much of the attention--and soaked up most of the campaign expenditures.

At least $81 million was spent by all sides on the five insurance initiatives. The propositions were put on the ballot after car insurance rates skyrocketed in California in the last five years.

As polling showed the insurance industry’s own initiatives--Propositions 104 and 106--in trouble, the industry switched to an attack on Propositions 100 and 103, which would roll back rates and lead to more regulation of the industry. Another measure, Proposition 101, backed by maverick insurance executive Harry O. Miller, was doing poorly in the polls.

Lawyers’ Proposal

Proposition 100 is backed by the California Trial Lawyers Assn. and Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, among others, while 103 is championed by Ralph Nader.

The 103 measure has appeared to have the best chance of passing, according to polling, but there were reports Monday that tracking polls found a last-minute advertising blitz by the insurance industry eating into 103’s support.

The ads focus on the fact that even drunk drivers would get a rate rollback under Proposition 103.

To try to counter the attacks, the 103 campaign held a news conference Monday with Candy Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), who said that Proposition 103’s provisions “will not encourage drunk driving in any way.”

Also on the ballot was Proposition 102, which is being watched by AIDS experts across the nation because it would force sweeping changes in the way California attacks the epidemic.

It would end anonymous testing for the AIDS virus, requiring the reporting of the names and sexual contacts of everyone who tests positive. It would also repeal laws that forbid using test results to deny insurance or employment.

Opponents, including the California Medical Assn. and Dr. Jonas Salk, argue that the change would discourage testing.

Governor’s Viewpoint

Proponents, including Gov. George Deukmejian, argue that AIDS should be treated like any other infectious disease.

Health officials in San Francisco say fear of its passage has caused a last-minute rush at centers that do anonymous testing.

Los Angeles clinics report increased phone calls but no flood of applicants. At UCLA, some men participating in a major AIDS study have notified doctors they will wait for vote results before deciding to continue, Dr. Roger Detels said Monday.

Another ballot initiative, Proposition 96, would require AIDS testing for some criminal suspects.

Proposition 97 would require the governor to restore the state occupational and safety program, which he ended after saying that federal worker safety laws were sufficient.

Also on the ballot is Proposition 99, which would increase the state cigarette tax to 35 cents from 10 cents and use it to offset health costs of smoking.

In the City of Los Angeles, millions were spent in a battle over whether to allow oil drilling in the Pacific Palisades. Proposition O would bar that drilling, while Proposition P would allow it.

Contributing to this article were Times staff writers Frank Clifford, Richard C. Paddock, Kenneth Reich, Kevin Roderick and Judy Pasternak.