BALLOT BEDLAM HUNDREDS MAY VIE IN RECALL ELECTION.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

With the possibility of hundreds of candidates on the recall ballot, election officials have grown increasingly concerned about conducting the election efficiently in just two months and the potential for voter confusion.

So far, about 300 people across the state have expressed interest in running, according to the Secretary of State's Office, including more than 100 in Los Angeles County. If even half of them end up qualifying, that could make for a crowded and confusing ballot.

Los Angeles County Deputy Registrar Kris Heffron said last week that election officials are ``taking a big gulp and saying, 'Oh my God.'

``I think right now everything is uncertain,'' she said. ``We're all watching it very closely. Until we start getting candidates filing back, we really won't know what that picture is going to look like.''

Candidate filings are due at 5 p.m. Saturday for the Oct. 7 election.

The Los Angeles registrar has the ability to handle about 200 candidates on a ballot, but if the number goes beyond that, Heffron said, it would create potential technical problems.

Adding to the confusion is the random order of names on the ballot, which will make it difficult for voters to find their preference.

The secretary of state will hold a random drawing to determine the order of the ballot.

The order doesn't just start with the first letter picked and then proceed in standard alphabetical order. The procedure is to place all 26 letters in random order as they are picked so that all names starting with the letter A, for example, might be first, last or anywhere in between. And even within each group of first letters, the random drawing applies to the rest of the letters as well, so even after finding the first letter of a candidate's last name a voter would still have to search the list.

A voter looking, for example, for former Mayor Richard Riordan on the ballot might first have to track down the names starting with the letter R which could be any place on the list. And then look through all the R last names since Ro could be ahead of Ri.

Confused?

That's exactly what supporters of Gov. Gray Davis are counting on.

``This recall has plunged California into political chaos,'' Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said last week, referring to the proliferation of names on the ballot.

But recall supporters say the number of candidates might work to their advantage because it adds to the number of people campaigning in support of the recall itself.

``It makes it more difficult to find the candidates when you have that loaded on a ballot,'' sid Phil Paule, director of Rescue California. ``But I don't think it causes people not to vote.''

Few candidates want to admit their campaigns are publicity stunts, or simply something to tell the grandkids about someday, no matter how dubious their chances.

``It's scary,'' said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe of the University of Southern California.

``I think something like that could be helpful to the governor and give legitimacy to his argument that this is frivolous and it's destabilizing. If you go down the ballot and see 15 people including Angelyne and Carrot Top or whatever, you begin to think twice about the mechanisms of the recall.''

For the record, yes, billboard icon Angelyne is a candidate. Carrot Top the comedian is not.

But he might fit in perfectly with some of the other entertaining characters who may run.

Like Mary Carey, a 22-year-old adult film star who advocates a tax on breast implants, and plans to collect signatures in front of City Hall next week in a stars and stripes bikini.

Or Georgy Russell, a 26-year-old from Mountain View who is getting more attention for her campaign merchandise - thong underwear with her name on it - than her ideas.

And with no prominent Democrats in the race so far, it could be up to Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, to carry the party banner. He said he is ``serious'' about his candidacy, even though he's perfectly willing to poke fun at himself as a ``smut peddler.''

``I'm serious,'' Flynt said in an interview. ``California is big business and I've been a businessman for 35 years. I think I can do a better job balancing the budget than those pinhead bureaucrats in Sacramento.

``California is the most progressive state in the union without a doubt. I'm very unorthodox at times. I don't think they would mind having a smut peddler who cares as their governor.''

His main proposal is to expand casino gambling throughout the state. Of course, Flynt happens to have a casino in Gardena along with his publishing ventures, so he says he knows such a plan could bring in at least a few billion dollars in tax revenue.

Then of course there's Angelyne, the billboard queen of L.A., who also, by the way, ran for city council of Hollywood in last year's failed secession campaign. Not that anybody noticed - she barely campaigned at all, throwing one lackluster fund-raiser and not doing much of anything else.

Angelyne, who tools around town in a pink Corvette and has a pink Maltese named Buddha as her mascot, said if elected, she would do something about what she sees as too much road construction, and make sure the state pays its bills on time.

Her campaign slogan: Think rational pink.

``There's been enough gray and brown in the state of California,'' Angelyne said. ``I think pink should be the next color.''

Harrison Sheppard, [phone]

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

box

Box:

CALIFORNIA'S RECALL PROCESS

Source: California Secretary of State's Office; Daily News research

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist