Decision ‘94: The Primaries : Valley Voters Turn Out to Polls in Dismal Numbers : Balloting: Trend reflects poor statewide showing, which, as predicted, may be lowest in recorded history.

California voters turned out in record low numbers Tuesday, but don’t blame Joe Davison.

Fifteen minutes before the polls closed Tuesday night, in the tiny mountain enclave of Follows Camp, Davison got in his Jeep, got on his CB and badgered his neighbors--all 140 or so who are registered to vote.

“I tried to reach them . . . at around a quarter to 8 to remind everybody who hadn’t made it to the polls,” said Davison, owner of the Follows Camp mobile-home park, which is in the San Gabriel Mountains above Azusa. “I think we got three more voters.”

But the tiny precinct couldn’t crack a 40% voter turnout no matter how hard Davison tried and, as goes Follows Camp, so goes California. Ninety minutes before Davison took to the airwaves, acting Secretary of State Tony Miller lowered his already dismal Election Day prediction.

“We had predicted a pathetic, historic low of 39.8%,” Miller said. “Based upon what we know right now, it could be closer to 37%. That would be the lowest turnout in a major election since we started keeping records in 1916.”

That was the way it looked at D & S Plaza, a Winnetka strip mall, where election official J. Belcher shook her head at the blase local acceptance of what is a treasured privilege in many other places.

“It’s not been any great rush,” she said sadly. “Those poor people in (South) Africa stood in line for days to vote.” She was one of four officials who waited for the voters at a card table wedged between carpet rolls and vinyl tile samples at Valley Discount Carpet.

By noon, the group had processed only 69 of 550 registered voters. And with hours to go before after-work voters would show, the group did their best to pass the time pleasantly.

“We get to look at all the pretty colors and pick out carpets for our earthquake-damaged houses,” said Gloria Weber of Winnetka.

“We talk about food, decorating, anything,” added Ruther Chappell, also of Winnetka. “What do ladies talk about?”

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At the Studio City garage of Lois Toolan, David Wajsbord, 71, and his 69-year-old wife, Estelle, broke up the afternoon monotony. They brought their total to 120 out of 841 registered voters.

For Wajsbord, a Holocaust survivor liberated in 1945 by U. S. troops, voting is more than a choice between candidates and more than a civic duty. It is an affirmation of his belief in his adopted country and a confirmation of freedom, he said.

“I’m going to vote like someone (who) is called to the Army; it’s something I must do,” Wajsbord said as he walked into the booth. “When I go home, I feel much better. I feel like I accomplish something.”

Only 73 of 919 registered voters had made it to the poll at Winnetka Street School in Winnetka by midday. Poll watchers with no one to watch eyed the door longingly, promising that the rush would come in the afternoon.

“We had a nice Akita (dog) that came in by the name of Sumo,” said election judge Gloria Harris of Winnetka. “That was a high point.”

And the scene was not much different at the Studio City garage of election inspector April Howard, who has been an inspector since 1988 and an election official for six years before that.

Howard said she is paid $45 for her time and the use of her home. She also got an extra $5 for attending a one-hour class in how to be an inspector.

“Putting up the booths, with all these bits and pieces, probably takes a couple of hours,” she said. “Sweeping out the garage probably takes about four. . . . I started doing it because it was a nice way to feel good about doing your civic duty.”

Some of her neighbors didn’t feel as strongly about their duties. Howard counted 74 voters out of a possible 614 at midday. “This is usually a very good precinct, but the whole thing’s running very slow,” she said.

Arlene Whitehall, a worker for 35 years at a precinct near Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, said this election would be her last.

“I’ve been here since 6:30 this morning,” Whitehall said as she sat in the polling place at James Barber Shop and waited grumpily for voters to arrive. “It’s been terrible. Out of 500 registered voters, we only have 100 regular ballots. This is too much, to sit here all day.”

If it weren’t for Frank Genardi, barbershop owner and violinist extraordinaire, “we’d all be bored to death,” she said. “He plays classical and he plays modern and he plays the themes of the ‘40s, when I could dance.”

But does he explain a 20% turnout? He certainly does not. “We gave ‘em all that we usually give: happy faces, pretty music,” Genardi insisted as the clock ticked down to closing time.

At the lifeguard headquarters garage in Venice, another makeshift polling place, a disgusted Delilah Bolden waited for crowds that never arrived. “The weather’s beautiful, but the voting’s lousy. We don’t have more than about 100 who have voted already and it’s 5 o’clock. We have about 600 voters. That’s very low. It’s nothing. I don’t know what happened.”

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There are some obvious reasons that turnout was low in this election. This wasn’t a presidential election year, which attracts higher voter turnout, and neither primary in either of the top two races--for governor anS. Senate--appeared to be ending up being very close. Also, none of the ballot propositions were of the sensational, high-spending kind that can draw voters to the polls.

As Miller points out, it’s not like this turnout is an aberration, a stunning drop in a stellar record. The last several elections have seen fewer and fewer people come out.

“There is an historic pattern here,” he said. “And there’s not any single factor that’s causing it. There are not a lot of hot-button measures on the ballot. The candidates for even the top offices haven’t excited voters. More basic than that, people don’t think it makes any difference who’s elected. . . . People are giving up on the ability of the process to respond to the issues people face.”

* ELECTION STORIES: A1