O.C. Voting Goes Smoothly Despite Late Write-In Change

Orange County election officials reported no major snafus at the polls Tuesday, despite recent court rulings that changed voting procedures.

A last-minute push ensured that all precincts were equipped with a sign in three languages notifying voters that a list of write-in candidates for a judicial post was available and could be taken into the voting booth.

The effort came after a recent ruling in a lawsuit by challengers to Judge Ronald C. Kline, who faces molestation and child pornography charges.

The signs were delivered as ordered, officials said, but there was confusion at some polling places about what rules to follow.

There also was a last-minute effort to staff the county’s precincts. More than 300 county employees helped fill the gaps.

Some longtime volunteers backed out of serving in this primary, Orange County election officials said, citing confusion over recent statewide changes in voting procedures. The court-ordered changes also led to complaints from voters who were hoping to switch party affiliations or vote across party lines.

“We had people say that it was getting too complicated and they didn’t want to participate anymore,” said Terri Niccum, a spokeswoman for the county’s registrar of voters.

Bonnie Smith, an unaffiliated voter in Modjeska Canyon, said she had to declare a party affiliation--a surprise to her. She chose the Democrats, but was disappointed she couldn’t also vote for some Republicans.

“They’re limiting me,” Smith said.

Poll worker Misha Koshimizu said she and fellow workers had to shush several people who complained loudly about incumbent Gov. Gray Davis, saying they wanted to vote for Republican Richard Riordan.

In Fountain Valley, some Republicans voting early at Los Amigos High School were unable to cast ballots for members of the party’s central committee because the available ballot cards didn’t have the candidates’ names.

By early afternoon, however, precinct workers said a fresh batch of ballots had been delivered to the polling place.

Meanwhile, in Tustin, voters in one neighborhood were surprised to learn that their precinct had been limited to mail ballots only.

Voter Susan Selman said she didn’t know what to think when she received a mail-in ballot weeks ago. She saved it, however, and dropped it off at her former polling place Tuesday.

She said many of her neighbors, thinking the notification was junk mail, discarded their ballots and were unable to vote in person.

“They said they had lots of complaints,” Selman said of the poll workers she talked to. “Apparently, it’s a mess.”

In Los Angeles County, 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 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 county’s 4,865 polling locations.

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 make you feel disenfranchised,” she said.

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Times staff writers Mike Anton, Ray Herndon, John L. Mitchell, Ken Reich and Janet Wilson contributed to this report.