ABSENTEE BALLOTS REPORTED MISSING REPUBLICANS FEAR MISSING BALLOTS MAY AFFECT GOP ELECTION OUTCOME.

Byline: Robert Monroe and Troy Anderson Staff Writers

The Los Angeles County registrar confirmed Friday what local voters have been complaining about for a week: several thousand absentee ballots mailed out to them never arrived.

The glitch, which County Clerk Conny McCormack is investigating with the U.S. Postal Service, is not only flooding her office with calls from angry voters but those of the local Republican and Democratic party chapters as well.

``I would say we get probably 30 calls a day saying the same thing,'' said Alice DeLeon, office manager of the California Republican Party state headquarters in Burbank.

Local party officials said the problem has the potential to shake the faith the voting public has in the government, and they aren't ruling out the possibility that those who get fed up and don't vote could play a role by their absence on ``Super Tuesday.''

``With some of the close votes on Assembly and Senate races, it could have an effect,'' said Kimon Kotos, chairman of the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, which has its offices in Reseda.

Republican officials think that if there are tight vote margins, they'll probably be the ones getting the short end of the stick.

``What this does is, it affects voter turnout, especially Republican voters, because we vote at a higher propensity than Democratic voters, especially by absentee votes,'' said Stuart DeVeaux, communications director for the California Republican Party. ``If this is a problem we see now, the state party will have to take measures to see this doesn't happen in the future.''

McCormack said her office processed requests for absentee ballots as usual and mailed them. Where they went after that, she doesn't know. The number of missing ballots was described only as several thousand and McCormack said her Norwalk office had received a significant number of calls from the San Fernando Valley.

Postal service spokeswoman Terri Bouffiou said her office had not ``heard word one about this.''

McCormack said voters missing their ballot forms could vote at their neighborhood polling places listed on sample ballots. Voters also can get replacement ballots by going to the registrar's main office today, Sunday OR Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They can cast their votes there or take the absentee ballots home.

Filled-out ballots must be returned to the registrar no later than 8 p.m. Tuesday.

The main office is at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk.

Kotos said the vanishing ballots could cause frustration and apathy among voters, but he sees a silver lining in the calls he's received from people looking for answers.

``It shows the faith of people who want to vote,'' he said.