Cities Delay Elections to Avoid 1996 Primary Conflict : Politics: Several councils vote to extend terms by 11 months to keep the races from being overwhelmed by presidential sweepstakes. Others consider similar action.

When California legislators moved the 1996 presidential primary from June to March, it landed just two weeks before a host of South Bay cities were scheduled to go to the polls for municipal elections.

So rather than compete with the White House sweepstakes, a handful of City Councils backed off--and gave themselves almost a year more in office. Councils in Carson, Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes Estates and Manhattan Beach have decided to push their municipal elections back 11 months, from April, 1996, to March, 1997. And city officials in Lawndale, Lomita, Gardena and El Segundo are considering similar moves.

“It would be a wholesale mess” to go ahead with an April, 1996, election, said Carson City Clerk Helen Kawagoe, explaining that presidential and city races have different precincts. “Precinct officers would forget which precinct they are serving. Absentee voters may send the wrong form to the wrong party. It would be total confusion for the electorate.”

Palos Verdes Estates City Clerk Barbara Culver added: “They’ll have absentee ballots crisscrossing each other.”

Cities throughout Los Angeles County are making similar moves, with the blessing of state lawmakers. When they switched the presidential primary to March 26, Sacramento legislators gave cities permission to change their election dates as long as no more than a year was added or subtracted from a term.

Meanwhile, officials with the county registrar of voters--which provides everything from voting booths to absentee-ballot verification--told cities its workers will be too busy to handle the load of the presidential primary and municipal elections.

Some cities asked about combining the two elections, but the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has been unwilling in recent years to combine municipal elections with a presidential primary, fearing that the ballot would be too long, said registrar spokeswoman Marcia Ventura.

In a time when voters have called for term limits and campaign reform, city officials acknowledge that adding time to their terms may generate criticism.

“I hate to see people give themselves additional time,” said retired economist James Peoples, who lost his bid for Carson mayor in April. “The people who should do that are the voters. If anything, (politicians) should shorten their time.”

The county registrar of voters told city officials that they could shorten their terms and hold races in November, 1995. (Hermosa Beach, Hawthorne, Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates already are scheduled to hold elections then).

In Palos Verdes Estates, Culver estimated that such a move would have saved about $7,000 because the Palos Verdes Peninsula school district and library board also have elections then, allowing costs to be shared.

But the council moved the election to March, 1997. With other races on the ballot, campaign workers and donations might be harder to come by for council candidates, according to the clerk’s report.

“The school board and library board races have been so contentious the last couple of times, we might lose our opportunity to present issues to the residents,” said Councilman Raymond Mattingly, whose term expires in the next election. “Our message might get lost.”

City officials who have made the change are required by state law to send a letter to each registered voter explaining the move.

“We’ve had no comments from anyone,” Kawagoe said. “We probably could (shorten the terms), but my attitude is that when people run for office, we advertise it as a full term of four years.” Carson’s residents will elect a mayor and three council members in 1997.

In Manhattan Beach, City Councilman Jack Cunningham also said officials have heard no complaints. “I don’t think anybody gives a darn, frankly.”

But several people protested any such move at a recent El Segundo City Council meeting. That city has put off a decision until June.

Voters “can really get up in arms if they feel they’ve been stepped on,” said Brian Crowley, a member of El Segundo’s Planning Commission, who warned against extending terms without a vote of the people. He said in his hometown of Hawthorne, three City Council members were recalled in 1983 shortly after they extended their terms by 19 months.

Voters “felt it was extremely highhanded,” Crowley said.

Two cities are staying put. The city of Torrance would have had to put an election date change on the ballot because it is part of the City Charter. So it will go forward with its March 5 election, three weeks before the presidential primary. Because the county will be too busy preparing for the presidential primary, city officials may buy or rent voting booths.

“There is a good possibility there will be some confusion,” said City Clerk Sue Herbers. “We’ll be looking at new ways to make (the election) stand out.”

And Avalon, holding its election in April, also isn’t budging.

“I don’t think people would like it,” said City Clerk Shirley Davy, adding that the city will share costs with the Long Beach Unified School District, which plans to hold an election the same day. Avalon is part of the district.

As for the presidential primary: “We’ll get a better turnout than they do,” Davy said.