Strong Turnout, Smooth Sailing

Some voters in San Pedro were given the wrong ballots. A precinct in Hollywood saw key equipment arrive late. And poll workers at a Temecula elementary school had to be stopped from pointing to a nearby poster of President Bush.

Yet by and large Tuesday, voting in Southern California went smoothly -- to the relief of election officials whose staffs were stretched thin by an election that appeared close to drawing a record turnout.

Los Angeles County saw 78.6% of registered voters cast ballots, based on a survey of 30 precincts. “We haven’t seen that kind of turnout in decades,” Registrar Conny McCormack said.

Even the region’s controversial electronic voting machines seemed to function well, but for some frustrating breakdowns and delays at precincts in Laguna Beach and Upland.

“The expectation of a perfect election, which the public has, and I don’t blame them, cannot be delivered,” McCormack said. “There will be mistakes.”

Results in at least a few San Pedro and Long Beach precincts could be thrown into doubt because poll workers mixed ballots from two precincts, officials said.

As a result, some voters cast ballots for the wrong state Senate and congressional candidates. McCormack said fewer than 200 ballots were affected and election workers were isolating questionable ballots in case of a challenge.

Registrars across the state reported isolated problems, but not the type of systematic failure that could threaten an election’s outcome. The day was nonetheless frustrating for some voters. Dan Canning said he was first in line to vote at his Hollywood precinct -- he arrived at 6:35 a.m., 25 minutes before the polls were supposed to open -- but had to leave for work before he could cast a ballot because some equipment arrived two hours late.

“Everyone made a point that we need to vote,” said Canning, 31, an office manager at USC. “It’s a broken promise and it suggests to me that my vote does not count.”

McCormack said she was aware of four polling places, such as the one in Hollywood, that opened late. Considering that the county has more than 4,600 polling sites, those problems were not significant, McCormack said.

Leading up to Tuesday’s election, the biggest concern for many observers was electronic voting machines, which created problems in Alameda, San Diego and Orange counties in the March primary election. The problems Tuesday appeared to be much less serious.

Several voting machines at one polling place in Upland lost power early in the day, creating long lines and forcing some voters to cast ballots on paper.

San Bernardino County election officials said a power surge knocked out the machines after all of them were plugged in to a single outlet.

In Orange County, voting machines malfunctioned in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, forcing workers to temporarily issue paper ballots.

About 110 voters cast paper ballots in Laguna Beach before the machine was repaired, a poll worker said. Those ballots will be counted along with absentee ballots turned in before the election, said Brett Rowley, a spokesman for the Orange County registrar of voters. In Newport Beach, the problem was corrected in 45 minutes.

Riverside County officials dispatched staffers to investigate allegations that a life-size cardboard George W. Bush was on display at a Temecula school being used as a polling place. Poll workers were reminded to keep opinions to themselves, but since the figure was part of a school display it was allowed to remain, Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore said.

*

Times staff writers Richard Fausset, Jeff Gottleib, Christine Hanley, Natasha Lee, Caitlin Liu, Hugo Martin, Seema Mehta, Tim Reiterman, Lisa Richardson and Wendy Thermos contributed to this report.