Long Beach : Names Absent From Some Absentee Ballots

With less than a week to go before the election, a mistake in the mailing of some absentee ballots has threatened to throw one of Long Beach’s hottest races into turmoil and has prompted one candidate to call for an investigation of the city clerk’s office.

The names of City Council candidates Jim Serles and Doug Drummond were omitted from ballots mailed to at least three homes in the Belmont Shore area’s 3rd District, where the two men face each other in a runoff.

City Clerk Shelba Powell said correct ballots are being sent to all three voters, one of whom is California Supreme Court Justice David Eagleson, a longtime Long Beach resident.

Powell said the clerk’s office was forced to rush 3,800 absentee ballots into the mail after the county was late in providing address labels for some parts of Long Beach. At least three ballots intended for other districts were sent to voters in the 3rd, she explained. The office is checking records of the 3,800 ballots for accuracy and is encouraging voters to call 590-7452 to report errors.

Serles is calling for an investigation.

“In 1986 they lost three precincts and couldn’t find them until the next morning. That same year, one polling place opened at 10 a.m. instead of 7. Polling places in the past have been mis-marked and nobody has any answers,” Serles complained.