O.C. Activist: Election Errors Could Reoccur

Election day mistakes by precinct workers last November could easily be repeated because of inadequate training, the leader of a Latino activist group charged Wednesday.

Amin David, chairman of Los Amigos of Orange County, questioned whether the registrar of voters office is aggressively reaching out to minority groups and whether the county plans enough training for the more than 6,000 volunteers who work the polls during elections.

The remarks were prompted by the county’s response to a grand jury report on election problems--a response that county supervisors formally approved Tuesday.

The grand jury told county leaders in May that they should ask minority groups to provide translation at the polls and hire at least a dozen workers to beef up the elections department, which has 34 employees.

David said the county has moved slowly with minority groups and has hired no new workers.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer said reform is coming, but any changes will be part of a broadly based plan that considers, among other things, whether the county should buy a $30-million to $50-million electronic voting system.

Spitzer, who heads the board’s elections committee, said most of the grievances will be aired at an Aug. 22 forum. A location is pending.

David and other community leaders are frustrated with the county’s inaction on an inch-thick report they released in December based on a telephone survey of 1,275 Latinos, predominately Spanish speakers.

Of that number, 260 had reported some type of voting “incident.” Among the problems listed were polling places running out of ballots, voters turned away and other irregularities.

“Some of the mistakes may occur again,” David said. “We want to impress on Supervisor Todd Spitzer and the registrar the need for training, which was brought out in our report after the last election.”

He also questioned whether the county had worked with minority groups to identify precincts that should be staffed by bilingual volunteers, a claim the county makes in its response to the grand jury report.

“Not true,” David said. “For the past three or four years, community groups have not decided what precincts should be targeted.” David said the county may have worked with the groups but that their input has been largely ignored.

Registrar Rosalyn Lever said she and an official from the county’s executive office have met with various community groups, including Latinos and Asians.

She said she plans to attend Spitzer’s forum and by that time will have a response to the December report that David and other community leaders drafted.

“We are putting together a strategic plan and we’ve been out in the community gathering data,” Lever said. “A lot of their concerns are in the process of being addressed in the strategic planning process.”

Since 1995, the registrar’s staff has decreased 33% because of the county bankruptcy but has faced an 18% increase in voter registration. In addition, use of absentee ballots has increased 57%.

As for training precinct workers, the county’s answer to the grand jury was that training for all precinct workers is not mandatory--a response that irked David.

But Lever said her office is reviewing who should receive training and what the training will encompass.

With 6,700 precinct volunteers hired for election day, and only 34 full-time workers, Lever said any training strategy must work without overwhelming her staff.

San Diego County, with a comparable population, has 56 employees in its registrar’s office. Lever plans to go before the board Sept. 11 with budget requests, including additional staff.