They’re Counting Down to the Count

Inside the county’s election building, an army of workers and volunteers reached critical mass Monday, dealing with last-minute campaign filings and court rulings ahead of today’s primary election.

Computers hum. Counting machines are oiled and prepped. Dozens of employees in guarded rooms have opened thousands of envelopes with absentee ballots, scanning for rips and tears that could jam a machine.

“We’re going to be ready,” said Registrar Rosalyn Lever, who was thrown a curve last week when a judge ruled that the county’s 1,716 precincts must post a notice that a list of write-in candidates is available upon request.

Secretary of State Bill Jones has estimated a 36% statewide voter turnout for today. Orange County voters have traditionally surpassed statewide estimates.

Though local election officials declined to predict turnout, they said that the county has had 41% turnout in similar primaries.

Friday’s ruling in a lawsuit filed by challengers to Judge Ronald C. Kline, who faces charges of child molestation and possessing child pornography, resulted in a hectic weekend for Lever and her staff.

The notice had to be drafted, then translated into Vietnamese and Spanish, and placed into precinct kits to meet a Saturday deadline for distribution.

Lever said she and her staff worked until 9 p.m. Friday and returned before 7 a.m. Saturday to coordinate distribution.

According to the ruling, election officials must now display signs at polling places alerting voters that they can receive a list of write-in candidates. In addition, the list may be taken into the voting booth.

The ruling affects all races--there are 11 write-ins for Kline’s seat alone--in which write-ins are candidates but will particularly favor the challengers opposing Kline since his name is the only one that will appear on the ballot for his office.

Kline submitted campaign documents for reelection for another six-year term before charges were filed against him. With the filing deadline for seeking election past, challengers’ only option was as write-in candidates.

Three other races on the countywide ballot have write-in candidates: 2nd District supervisorial, lieutenant governor and governor’s race on the Libertarian Party ticket.

Unfortunately for the registrar, the judge’s ruling came after 156 precinct kits had been sent.

The kits contain cardboard voting booths, card punch machines and other essential election materials.

As a result, the registrar had to mail the write-in notices via overnight delivery at a cost of $2,000, said Steve Rodermund, chief deputy registrar.

Lever usually has 7,000 volunteers working at the precincts. But the department typically receives about 1,000 cancellations within 30 days of an election and another 300 volunteers cancel less than 24 hours before the polls open.

A new county program sought to enlist an additional 1,700 volunteers from the ranks of county employees by the November election. So far, only 260 have volunteered for today’s election, Rodermund said.

Election officials prefer four people staffing a precinct, but because not enough volunteers applied, they will have only three--an inspector and two clerks--at about 100 precincts.

“But we have a core of 35 county volunteer employees who are coming in at 6 a.m. and they will probably go to the lower-staffed precincts,” Rodermund said.

The law requires at least three workers per precinct. But Rodermund said that with an average of 1,000 voters at each precinct, “it sometimes gets too busy for only three and they can’t have time for lunch and breaks.”