589 Duplicate Measure J Absentee Ballots Mailed

Because of “human error,” the county registrar of voters office accidentally sent out duplicate absentee ballots for today’s Measure J election to more than 500 voters, election officials said Monday.

Registrar of Voters Donald Tanney said the mistake occurred when someone in his office punched in the wrong computer code on address labels.

Tanney also said that absentee balloting could determine the fate of Measure J, the half-cent sales tax initiative for criminal justice facilities. However, he said, the error of mailing duplicate ballots is not expected to affect the outcome of the election.

By Monday afternoon, 78,096 absentee ballots had been requested--a record for a special election--and 55,545 had been turned in.

Tanney initially estimated voter turnout for today’s election at 18% to 22%, but he has lowered that estimate to 15% to 18%. With such a low voter turnout, Tanney said, this could be the first countywide special election in which more votes are cast by mail than at the polls.

There are 1,051,116 registered voters in the county.

Tanney said that “absentee balloting is becoming a very significant portion of every election. It’s a convenience for many people who would rather resolve issues in the comfort of their own home, and absentee voters are easier to target for proponents and opponents of any measure or candidate.”

At the same time that voters countywide will decide on Measure J, voters in the 35th State Senate District will pick a replacement for former state Sen. John Seymour, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate. There are three candidates in the race: Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange), Democrat Francis X. Hoffman and Libertarian Eric Sprik.

During the primary election for the 35th District in March, slightly more than half the votes cast were through absentee ballots, according to Tanney’s office. But that has never happened in a countywide election.

In regard to the duplicate ballots, Tanney said, some voters received one ballot with the letter A on the mailing label and another marked with a B. The letters are internal codes to indicate whether a ballot was requested by mail or in person, but somehow, the coding was wrongly entered in a computer and 589 voters received two ballots, he said.

Tanney’s office has been telling voters who call in that they are to destroy the B ballot and send in the one marked A.

If a voter sends in two ballots, Tanney said, his office will count the first vote and invalidate the second.

“If they attempt to vote twice, that’s of course illegal,” he said. “But we would count the first ballot sent in and resolve whether it was an accident on their part. We would try to do this without involving the district attorney’s office.”

Meanwhile, both opponents and supporters of Measure J lobbied for votes through last-minute phone calls as the brief but lively campaigning entered the final stretch.

If approved, Measure J would increase the county’s sales tax to 7% and raise what supporters say would be an average of $343 million a year over 30 years. The revenue most likely would be used to build a 6,720-bed jail in Gypsum Canyon to help relieve jail overcrowding.

Opponents of the measure held a press conference Monday to announce that the Los Angeles-based Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. was officially opposed to Measure J.

At the press conference at the Anaheim Hilton, representatives of Taxpayers Against J read a letter from Joel Fox, president of the statewide Howard Jarvis organization. Fox said a tax increase that could be approved with only a simple majority of the voters--such as Measure J--”violates Proposition 13,” the landmark tax-cutting measure of 1978.

“It means he’s examined this issue,” said TAJ chairman Bob Zemel about the Fox letter. “He doesn’t do foolish things. It makes us credible.”

Sheriff Brad Gates, who chairs the Committee to Keep Criminals in Jail and is the leading spokesman for Measure J, dismissed the endorsement.

“They have tried to make this into a taxing issue but what this is is a public safety issue,” he said.

Political strategists said the complexity of the issues involved in the jail debate has made today’s election difficult to predict.

“It’s really hard to say what will happen,” said Eileen Padberg, a political consultant for the pro-Measure J group. “In any normal situation, we definitely would have won. But in relationship with other things in the environment now--the threat of higher state taxes--it could be tough. I still think we have a good chance, but it’s anybody’s guess what’s going to happen.”

No matter what the outcome, it has been a unique campaign, said Mark Baldassare, a public opinion pollster and a professor of social ecology at UC Irvine.

“This is really one for the record books,” he said. “This is one that political consultants will study for years to come because it could give us an indication of the future impact of absentee ballots, which are playing a bigger role in elections.”

Today’s Election

County voters go to the polls today to decide on Measure J, the half-cent sales tax initiative for new jail facilities. Voters in the 35th State Senate District also will fill a vacant seat.

* Measure J would increase the county’s sales tax to 7% and raise an average of $343 million annually over 30 years. The measure needs a simple majority.

* The county Regional Justice Facilities Commission, which placed Measure J on the ballot, would then draw up a master plan to decide which projects should receive Measure J funding. The Board of Supervisors has decided that a 6,720-bed jail in Gypsum Canyon, east of Anaheim Hills, should be the top priority. Other public agencies have submitted plans for the funds.

* In the 35th State Senate District, three candidates are vying for the seat that was vacated by John Seymour’s appointment to the U.S. Senate. They are Republican John R. Lewis, Democrat Francis Hoffman and Libertarian Eric Sprik.

* Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

* Polling information: Registrar of voters’ office, (714) 567-7600.