A court ruling last week that maintained the Oct. 7 recall
election date did not distract officials in several counties in
California, who have been scrambling to prepare for the election
while dealing with disputed equipment and decreased numbers of
voting sites.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit dissatisfied
that some counties in California, including Los Angeles, are still
using punch-card ballot machines for voting, which were the topic
of seemingly endless debate during the 2000 presidential election.
The plaintiffs argued that the machines have had proven bouts of
inaccuracy and should not be used.
For any state election to be valid, all 58 counties must be
properly equipped to host voting. The ACLU argued that this
wasn’t the case, citing that L.A., Mendocino, Santa Clara,
San Diego, Sacramento and Solano counties should have the chance to
replace their punch-card machines with either touch screen or
written ballots.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson explained his decision,
saying he wouldn’t rule against the will of the people by
invoking a delay of the recall election.
L.A. County was in the process of switching over to upgraded
facilities for municipal elections this November, but could not do
so in time for the recall, according to the L.A. County
Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
In the November elections, the county will use optical scanning,
which should be familiar to college students, where voters’
written ballots ““ likened to a Scantron ““ will be
read by computer equipment.
Officials in the registrar’s office said though they have
been rushed, they should be ready in time for the Oct. 7 date.
“We’re going as smoothly as we can,” said
Registrar Spokeswoman Grace Chavez. “The staff is working
overtime, but we’re progressing.”
In fact, Chavez said they will be ready early. Like in previous
elections, L.A. County will hold early voting for the recall
election at 12 voting sites scattered throughout the region. Early
voting, set to take place from Sept. 24 through Oct. 3, will be
conducted via touch-screen voting machines.
Another concern for those preparing for the recall election is
fewer voting precincts available to host voters. In a week, a San
Jose judge will determine whether Monterey County can legally
streamline its usual 190 polling sites into 86
“super-precincts.”
Officials in this county have said the consolidation is
necessary to get ready in time for the election. Though L.A. County
is not facing litigation on the same matter, Chavez said the usual
number of 5,000 voting precincts for the county will dwindle to
about 1,938.
At UCLA, whose residential halls typically serve as voting
precincts for students who live on or near the Hill, administrators
have not yet heard from the registrar’s office about their
term of service for the recall election.
According to the Office of Residential Life, there are no
scheduled events in the dorms that could conflict with the
election.
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.