Voter Turnout Low in Contests for Council Seats : Polls: Absentee ballots were up sharply. Early campaign issues were overshadowed by Rodney G. King beating.

Against the extraordinary backdrop of the Rodney G. King police beating, Los Angeles voters went to the polls Tuesday to elect eight City Council members and to decide a $235-million bond issue for a new 911 emergency system that the Los Angeles Police Department desperately wants.

Early voter turnout was low, officials said, in an election that has been overshadowed in the last month by the continuing controversy over the videotaped beating that has prompted calls for the removal of Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

Frank Martinez of the city clerk’s office said the King controversy did not seem to be drawing voters to the polls. “So far, it does not seem to have a major impact at the precinct level,” Martinez said, estimating that voter turnout would be no higher than 20%.

Absentee ballots were up sharply, Martinez said. By Monday evening, nearly 47,000 mail-in ballots were received. Thousands more were expected Tuesday. In the last council election in 1987, 37,900 absentee ballots were cast.

Helen Chaney, a poll worker at Jessie Owens Park gymnasium, where only 36 people out of 590 registered voters had cast a ballot by early afternoon, blamed the police controversy for the light turnout.

“People in the black community are angry,” she said. “And I think a lot of them are staying home out of disgust.”

At the Saturn Street School auditorium in the 10th District, where 1,500 voters are registered, fewer than 120 had cast ballots by 2:30 p.m.

“It’s extremely lonely here,” poll watcher Idella Thompson said. “People aren’t interested in this election.”

In at least two City Council districts--the 8th and 9th--the beating and its aftermath became a central campaign issue. Until a month ago, all major candidates had been campaigning on themes of urban renewal and crime reduction in the largely black districts, which include much of South-Central Los Angeles.

Since the March 3 beating and the airing of the graphic videotape, the candidates have switched their attention to issues of police brutality and have made tough calls for Gates’ removal.

Incumbents Ruth Galanter in the 6th District and Hal Bernson in the 12th District faced strong opposition and likely runoff elections because of their stands on development, a recurring issue in some areas of the city.

Also running for reelection were Councilman Joel Wachs, in the 2nd District in the eastern and central San Fernando Valley; Council President John Ferraro in the 4th District, which includes Hancock Park, Toluca Lake and part of Los Feliz; Nate Holden, whose 10th District includes areas west of downtown, and Richard Alatorre, whose 14th District is on the eastern edge of the city.

At Los Angeles Bible College in the heart of the 8th District, the King beating and the status of Gates were on the minds of a number of voters.

“I think the only thing for (Gates) to do is resign,” said Johnny Dotson, 79, a retired maintenance worker. “Most of the people I know who were voting around here today want to help him do that.”

Margie Nightingale-Holmes wore her opinion on her sleeve, literally, when she showed up to vote at a real estate office near her home in the 8th District.

“See this,” she said, pointing to a button that said “Gates Must Go.” “That’s what’s driving people to vote in this neighborhood.”

She voted for Mark Ridley-Thomas, she said, because, “I think he’s got the best chance to do something about the Police Department.”

Ridley-Thomas, 36, on leave as director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Los Angeles, is one of nine candidates running for the 8th District seat being vacated by Councilman Robert Farrell, who decided not to seek another term. Ridley-Thomas was among a number of plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Monday in an attempt to keep Gates from returning to his job.

Another front-runner in the race was Kerman Maddox, 36, who helped organize an unsuccessful recall effort against Farrell in 1987 and has won widespread attention in recent weeks for launching a recall drive to oust Gates.

Others with substantial support were Billy Mills, 33, a business attorney and son of Superior Court Judge Billy Mills, Farrell’s popular predecessor; and Roderick Wright, 38, a longtime political consultant endorsed by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).

In the 9th District, 10 candidates are competing to replace Councilman Gilbert W. Lindsay, who was the first black on the council and held the seat for 27 years until his death in December. All the major candidates have tried to distance themselves from Lindsay’s policies, which critics say brought dramatic revitalization downtown, but did little for the economically depressed areas of South-Central Los Angeles.

Lindsay’s longtime aide, Bob Gay, 38, and school board member Rita Walters, 60, are considered front-runners, but Gay has been attacked for his association with Lindsay’s policies and Walters has been labeled a “carpetbagger” because she moved into the district after Lindsay died.

Other major candidates include Brad Pye Jr., 59, an aide to County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, and Woody Fleming, 44, a labor organizer.

Attorney Barbara Ratliff, also a candidate in the 9th District, failed Tuesday in her attempt to obtain a temporary restraining order in Superior Court to prevent absentee ballots from being counted in the district until charges of possible election improprieties are investigated.

Ratliff alleged that over the last month, homeless people on Skid Row were lured to vote for Gay by an absentee ballot in return for free meals. “I’m not saying he is involved,” Ratliff said Tuesday. “I’m saying people with vans were picking up homeless to take them to vote and telling them to vote for him (Gay).”

Ratliff said she was concerned that with a low turnout, absentee ballots could swing an election. But Superior Court Judge William Huss denied her request, questioning why she was “coming in here eleventh hour without proper notice.” Gay could not be reached for comment.

In the nearby 10th District, one-term incumbent Holden faced one little-known challenger, former teacher Esther M. Lofton. Holden has been criticized in recent weeks for his staunch support of Gates and the Police Department. Some residents of his district have said they had launched a write-in campaign for Mickey Mouse to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with Holden.

The write-in protest votes would not be counted, said Martinez of the clerk’s office. “If someone writes Mickey Mouse,” he said, “we are not going to count that, unless someone has gone through the official process.” Arrangements to count write-in votes for a particular candidate must be made in advance with the clerk’s office.

Tommy Davis, a retired postal worker, said he voted for Holden, but was upset at Holden’s support of the chief. Holden would win, Davis said, “no matter how I voted because he doesn’t have any competition. I think I wasted my vote. They should have a box that says ‘neither of the above.’ ”

In the 6th District, one-term incumbent Galanter was attempting to avoid a runoff election for her hotly contested seat. Galanter, 50, rode a slow-growth platform to an unexpected victory four years ago, but has come under criticism from constituents and candidates who allege that she has drifted away from her anti-development stands.

The challengers include Mary Lee Gray, 50, an aide to County Supervisor Deane Dana; Tavis Smiley, 26, a former aide to Mayor Tom Bradley, and four others.

The videotaped beating of King is a key issue in the 6th District, with Galanter mounting a heavy barrage of mail to parts of her district noting her support by the Police Protective League, which represents rank-and-file officers. She has also refused to call for Gates’ resignation, though she did vote to uphold the Police Commission suspension of the embattled chief.

In the northern San Fernando Valley’s 12th District, Bernson, 60, campaigned hard to avoid a runoff against his main challengers, Julie Korenstein, 47, a school board member who has made Bernson’s support of the huge Porter Ranch development her issue, and Walter Prince, 55, a Northridge businessman who has vowed to shut the project down.

Bernson strongly backed the project, which was approved by the City Council last year.

In the 2nd District, five-term incumbent Wachs, 52, faced two less-known opponents, Tom Paterson, 56, president of a homeowners association, and Peter A. Lynch, 59, a legislative advocate.

Ferraro, in his 25th year on the council, was running unopposed in the 4th District.

In the 14th District, Alatorre, 47, faced three challengers--John Lucero, 38, who launched an unsuccessful recall campaign against the councilman last year; Martin GutieRuiz, 26, a community organizer who worked for the campaign of Supervisor Gloria Molina, and David R. Diaz, 39, an environmental planner.

The King incident is expected to affect the prospects of Proposition 1, the $235-million bond issue that would purchase new 911 and police communications systems. Officials had hoped that support of the Police Department would translate to the two-thirds votes needed to approve the measure, but anti-police sentiment resulting from the beating may hurt the measure, some officials said.

Police describe their equipment as antiquated and overloaded and say that hundreds of thousands of calls go unanswered each year. If passed, the measure would cost the owner of a 1,500-square-foot home about $12.75 a year for the next 20 years.

Times staff writers Rich Connell and George Ramos contributed to this story.