ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : 3,600 Election Workers Still Awaiting Pay

SANTA ANA — More than two months after Election Day, about 3,600 temporary workers for the registrar of voters office still haven’t been paid for their services because of the county’s bankruptcy.

“Those bills are tied up in the bankruptcy,” county Registrar Donald Tanney said Friday. “At this point and time, it’s impossible to know when that payroll will be paid.”

About half of the roughly 7,000 people who worked Election Day have not received their pay. The other workers got checks just before the Dec. 6 bankruptcy, Tanney said.

Most of the temporary help received $47 to $57 a day for working at precincts around the county and at the main election office in Santa Ana.

Patricia Tavalozzi of Cypress worked election night but still hasn’t received her $47 check.

“If I was dependent on the money, I would be upset,” she said, adding that the work is popular with senior citizens. “You have to remember that some people are just barely making it on their retirement, so they really need the money.”

Tavalozzi, 59, said she has no idea when she’ll get paid. “What is that old saying? You can’t get blood from a turnip,” she said.

Tanney said the registrar’s office is now recruiting workers to help with this spring’s special election for the 35th District state Senate seat.

“This is going to make it more difficult. But we are trying to explain that they are going to get paid in a normal manner,” he said.