AIRPORT VOTE MAY SPUR HIGH TURNOUT.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

BURBANK - With more than 16,000 ballots already cast and more expected before Tuesday's deadline, the mail-in special election on Measure A - a controversial initiative to limit growth at Burbank Airport - may garner the highest voter turnout in 20 years.

Throughout last week, City Clerk Judie Sarquiz said, 400 to 800 ballots were arriving daily. At that rate, she suspects the Measure A election will break the record of 18,746 votes cast in a primary in 1973.

``I am hopeful we will reach that. It would be nice to beat that record,'' she said.

Authored by Restore Our Airport Rights, Measure A calls for any terminal plan at Burbank Airport to include an overnight curfew and a cap on the number of flights.

While proponents tout the initiative as a guarantee against further degradation of local residents' quality of life by airport noise and pollution, opponents claim it has numerous legal flaws that will lead to costly taxpayer-funded litigation.

Based on the Measure A ballots returned so far, some 29 percent of the city's 55,997 registered voters had voted.

In recent years, the highest turnout was in 1997, when 13,158, or 26.1 percent, of local residents voted on a $112 million school bond issue.

Last Wednesday, the city's absentee voting board started opening the ballots to ready them for counting, beginning at 7:01 p.m. Tuesday.

Sarquiz credits part of the extraordinary turnout to the city's $15,000 public education campaign to publicize the mail-in election - the first in Burbank's history. The city paid for lawn signs, utility bill inserts, street banners, movie theater announcements and billboards on benches and city trash trucks.

Both pro and anti-Measure A camps have also expended considerable resources to boost turnout in hopes of prevailing.

According to the most recent campaign statements, ROAR has spent $5,670 - slightly more than half of the contributions it has received - on campaigning.

Taxpayers Against Measure A has reported spending $5,341, out of $5,700 available from contributions.

ROAR Chairman Howard Rothenbach said his committee has invested funds largely in phone banks and fliers.

``We are at stores handing out fliers,'' he said. ``We have some volunteers who are looking at precinct lists, calling voters, concentrating on the area near the airport,'' he said.

Sunder Ramani, president of the Chamber of Commerce and head of the opposition group, said his committee also focused on phone banks and has already wrapped its campaign work.

``We feel pretty confident with what we have done,'' Ramani said. ``Let the chips fall where they may.''

Results will be provided on Channel 6, with the totals updated periodically. City staffers are also working to post results on the city Web site - www.ci.burbank.ca.us - but Sarquiz said she could not guarantee the system will be working by election night.

Although the ballots are punch cards, so far Sarquiz said the city has had no problems with chads because the holes on the ballots are bigger than usual. While it's preferable that voters punch out the holes, it's also legal for them just to mark the yes or no.

THE FACTS

Voting in the special Measure A election ends at 7 p.m. Tuesday, when city staff will begin counting the punch-card ballots.

The U.S. Postal Service is closed Monday for Columbus Day, but residents can drop off their ballots to ensure they will be counted.

The city Clerk's Office, 275 East Olive Ave., will be open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday. The following ballot drop-off locations will also be open the same hours on Tuesday:

Burbank Water & Power, 164 West Magnolia Blvd.; Media City Center Mall, 201 East Magnolia Blvd.; Burbank Central Library, 110 North Glenoaks Blvd.; Buena Vista Branch Library, 401 North Buena Vista St.; Northwest Branch Library, 3323 West Victory Blvd.; and Joslyn Center, 1301 West Olive Ave.

Registered voters who have lost their ballots can vote on provisional cards available at the drop-off sites.

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THE FACTS (see text)