Absentee Ballots Just That in South County: Absent

Nearly 2,800 absentee ballots weren’t mailed in time for South County residents to return them before Tuesday’s election, a potential setback for proponents of a controversial anti-airport measure.

Most of the absentee ballots were requested from Aliso Viejo, Laguna Beach and other South County cities--the heart of support for Measure F. That initiative was written with the hope that its passage would stop the county’s plans to build a commercial airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Voters who mailed ballot applications and didn’t receive them can still vote, but they must do so in person Tuesday or by obtaining an emergency absentee ballot.

About 1,000 voters simply missed a deadline to mail their requests for absentee ballots. More than 300 additional applications were held up for insufficient postage. But the bulk of the ballots--1,433--sat at the Santa Ana post office because of unusual circumstances that the Orange County district attorney’s office has been asked to investigate. The DA is considering the request.

Those applications carried an unauthorized postal permit number and were then stamped with a note that postage would be paid by the Orange County Registrar of Voters--illegal actions, said Postal Service spokeswoman Terry Bouffiou in Los Angeles.

The applications were being mailed on behalf of the Aliso Viejo Community Assn., said Orange County Registrar Rosalyn Lever said. Association representatives did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment Thursday.

Political consultant Jeff Gibson of Anaheim holds the postal permit that was used on the mailings. He said Thursday that he is not involved with the association and was mystified by the use of his permit.

Lever said the unusual circumstances prompted her to ask the district attorney’s office Thursday to investigate.

“We’re concerned that some people who can’t get to the polls on Tuesday will be disenfranchised,” she said.

Absentee ballot applications are frequently collected as part of “get out the vote” drives and then mailed in bulk.

In Laguna Beach, 320 absentee ballot applications were held by the post office because there were insufficient funds in a city account to cover postage. City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said the post office failed to notify the city that its account was low, a policy that postal officials have followed in the past.

Frank said he asked Lever as soon as he was notified of the problem Thursday to send letters to the affected voters, informing them that they now will have to cast ballots in person or by submitting emergency absentee ballots. Lever said late Thursday that she is considering doing so.

Any voter who requested but failed to receive an absentee ballot can fill out an emergency absentee ballot during the following hours at the Registrar of Voters office at 1300 S. Grand Ave. in Santa Ana: today and Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Newport Beach consultant Stu Mollrich, who is coordinating a four-city voter outreach effort called Vote 2000, said Thursday that his office has sent out about 1,000 postcards to voters warning them that they applied too late to receive absentee ballots through the program. The late applications involved voters in Irvine, Dana Point, Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills.

Mollrich said it is common for some absentee ballot applications to be received in the mail after the registrar’s deadline. The postcards told voters they must vote in person at their polling places.