Election ’89 : ELECTION NOTEBOOK : County Dogged by Voter Apathy

Buster was one of five living souls milling about a Seal Beach polling place Tuesday at noon. But he couldn’t vote.

So the shaggy-haired terrier sat and waited while his master disappeared behind the wrinkled plastic sheet into the cardboard voting booth.

“Too bad you can’t vote, Buster,” the man said to his dog on their way out of the almost-deserted polling place.

And so it went during this year’s off-year election, where in much of the county voters trickled in to cast their ballots over one issue: Measure M, the countywide transportation tax measure.

But in other areas, voters turned out in larger-than-expected numbers to have their say on several issues.

At the Irvine Boys and Girls Club, election officer Henry Myers said: “We were busier this morning than in any of the major elections.”

Could it have been because precinct workers laid out a buffetlike spread of apples, grapes and peanuts for civic-minded residents?

Meanwhile, at Greenville Fundamental School in Santa Ana, election workers Michael and Christine Davis were all alone. “Like my husband says, if they give out lottery tickets, then we’ll get some voters,” Christine said.

Or fruit.

Nerves in the Measure M camp were running high during the day, as one leader, Tom Rogers, reportedly headed for a rural retreat near Reno, while another, Bruce Nestande, headed for the gym.

Attorney Dana Reed, meanwhile, said that his Rx for the election night stress was a full belly. “We’re all doing what we can to relieve stress,” said Reed, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 250 pounds. “I’m taking out my frustration by eating all day.”