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.