LA County Registrar to Examine Independents' Ballots. Will count them if intent clear. [View All]

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L.A. County registrar to examine independents' ballots; mix-up leaves many presidential votes uncounted
Confusion over need to fill in party bubble affects thousands

By Richard C. Paddock
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

February 7, 2008

Spurred by confusion over Tuesday's voting, acting Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan said Wednesday that his office will examine more than 94,000 ballots cast by nonpartisan voters to determine how many votes for presidential candidates may have gone uncounted.

Logan said he also will try to determine whether the uncounted ballots would make a difference in the way delegates are apportioned between the Democratic presidential candidates and, if so, will seek legal approval to count as many as possible.

The registrar's comments followed an uproar among decline-to-state voters in the county who discovered too late that they were required to mark a bubble on the ballot denoting which party primary they were voting in. Some complained that poll workers told them not to mark the bubble; others said they were unaware of the requirement, which is unique to L.A. County.

"We are going to go back and look at those ballots and make a determination of how many made a presidential selection without marking a bubble," Logan said. "If we can clearly identify the voters' intent, we will seek legal authority to count those votes."