The big one on the big day; California's voters stream out

Voters in California, the biggest prize on the biggest day of primary voting in the nation's history, streamed to the polls in possibly record numbers.

With last-minute polls showing tightening races in both parties between Republicans Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney and Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, most of them made equally last-minute campaign appearances in the Golden State. A victory in California could catapult the winners to their party nominations. And California voters also had seven hot initiative issues to settle plus numerous local issues.

At least two Los Angeles polling places did not open on time this ...

morning and early-morning voters settled in for a long wait or walked away. Times reporters Tiffany Hsu, Paloma Esquivel and Molly Hennessy-Fiske were all over the story.

Matt Gray, 43, a registered Democrat, showed up at the Westside Jewish Community Center on Olympic Tuesday to find voting machines missing, long lines and poll workers stumped by his sample ballot, which was mistakenly labeled "independent." Up to 50 people left while he waited to vote with a provisional ballot.

"It's very frustrating: how do you not have the machines," said Gray. "They're saying they're not turning people away, but they are."

Voters in nearly half the states went to the polls in what has become, in effect, a national primary day with much at stake for the major parties and their candidates.

California will be closely watched, but much of the nation may be in bed by its results time. Results in California are expected to be reported far later than usual this year because many counties are using paper ballots, which must be fed manually into scanners.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified the vast majority of electronic voting machines in the state last year, arguing that they were vulnerable to tampering and have defects that could mar vote counts.

As a result, about a third of California counties were scrambling to prepare for the primary, printing millions of paper ballots, acquiring new optical scanners and pressing into service scanners normally used to count absentee ballots. The full California story is available here.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Jerry Tsai]

DOUBLE BUBBLE TROUBLE for DECLINE TO STATE VOTERS!

If you are a "Decline to State" voter that has not yet voted, and you want to vote in the Democratic Primary, you MUST request a Democratic ballot at the polls.

Then, you MUST DARKEN the bubble that says "Democratic". On the ballot where it says "nonpartisan" they are referring to "decline to state" voters. By darkening the "Democratic" bubble, you are given the right to vote in the Democratic primary. You are NOT being forced to join the Democratic Party. If you fail to darken the "Democratic" bubble, your vote will not count in the Party's primary.

If, however, you ARE a Democratic voter, then do NOT darken the bubble that says "Democratic". You don't need to, and if you do darken that bubble, your ballot may not count.

Once you have correctly darkened or not darkened the "Democratic" bubble, you may then feel free to darken the bubble by the name of the Democratic candidate you prefer.

[Mike Conboy]

In over 30 years of voting, I have never had such a hard time making a decision as I did this morning. Recent Clinton campaign conduct has troubled me. And if the L A Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, half the Kennedy's and John Kerry aren't bothered by Barak Obama's lack of experience in these troubled times why should I be? But in the end, she prevailed. While she may not have the oratory skills of her competitor, she has been my Obama long before there was an Obama. And, after waiting eight years, I finally got to cast my vote for a future she has been championing for years.

[Eric]

I'm just barely too young to vote in this year's presidential election, but I believe in paying attention and forming opinions anyway. If I had the vote today, I would have gone for Obama. Sure, he's inexperienced compared to Clintion, but he has ten years of political experience, and that's hardly something to sniff at. Besides, not being a born-and-bred (and married) Washington politician is a good thing in my book. The dynastic, name-recognition politics that lets politicians like the Bushes, the Kennedy's, and the Clintons win election over and over again is a detriment to our political culture in any case. The policies of the two remaining Democratic candidates (I disagree with most conservatives on nearly everything important) are nearly identical, but as Obama is less of a let's-fence-off-our-borders type and less obsessed with building up bureaucracy than Clinton, his policies give him the edge as well. Not a no-brainer by any means, but I don't think there's a question, after serious consideration, that if you're not a registered Republican, Barack Obama is the candidate for you.