No-Show Poll Workers Leave Some Unable to Cast Ballots

Election officials scrambled Tuesday to staff, reopen and resupply more than two dozen polling places where voters were turned away or faced long delays because a troubling number of poll workers didn’t show up.

The shortages forced officials to dispatch election workers and emergency supply kits containing ballots, voting rosters and other equipment to 27 of the 4,865 polling locations throughout Los Angeles County, from Valencia to Long Beach to Montebello.

“We normally have cancellations, but this was unusually high,” said Conny B. McCormack, the county’s registrar-recorder/county clerk. “This election was tremendously complicated anyway, but this time an unprecedented number of precinct inspectors didn’t show up.”

At a polling place in Los Angeles’ Mount Olympus district, would-be voter Joann Leonard was locked out and indignant.

“We get constantly told to go out and vote, go out and vote. And when people turn out to vote, what happens? No ballots. This makes you feel disenfranchised,” she said.

Officials were dealing with a number of election complications: changes in the primary system; new rules reducing by almost half the number of days to register voters; and redistricting that eliminated the polling places of 11,626 voters who were told they would be forced to use absentee ballots this time.

The first indication of problems came over the weekend when 150 poll workers opted for various reasons not to work, McCormack said. “We scrambled to replace them, but it wasn’t easy.”

She said most poll workers are retirees who are not always comfortable with the growing complexities of the election system. Finding replacements hasn’t been easy because the job has increasing responsibilities and the pay is low. An election inspector earns $75 for 14 hours of work.

“There is not a cadre of people coming behind” the aging and dying poll workers, McCormack said. “It’s a national problem.”

She said the county has pressed many new people into service at the last minute. “They showed up, but we have had a number of polls where precinct workers didn’t show or some showed up and found they were alone. They panicked and went home.”

At Moffet Elementary in Lennox, there were no supplies when poll inspector Lana Burnett arrived. “I showed up, but the equipment didn’t,” she said. “It’s frustrating. I turned away 30 people and told them to come back before the polls close. I hope they do.”

Barbara Taylor, a poll worker, had a similar experience at Crescent Heights Boulevard Elementary. A shortage of supplies forced her to turn away 75 to 100 voters before more supplies arrived and the polling place was finally opened. “It’s been very exasperating,” Taylor said. “I kept asking myself why am I doing this.”

“I kept thinking this is worse than Florida,” said Joanne Boye, a voter. “At least [in Florida] they allowed you to punch things out.”

At the Beverly Plaza Hotel, voters were delayed two hours before the polls opened. But in La Puente, a polling place never opened.

“I’m really surprised--we have had a polling place here for over 10 years,” said Esther Romo, who works as a secretary at Latin American Bible Institute, where the polling place is based. “We opened a special room [for voting], but no [poll workers] came. They called to confirm they were coming, but no one showed up.”