MAIL-IN VOTES PILING UP IN GLENDALE.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Glendale voters are slated to head to the polls Tuesday to pick two new City Council members, but it turns out many have already cast their ballots.

The Glendale City Clerk's Office reports that it received a record 12,000 applications to vote absentee in the election, a substantial increase over the 7,810 applications received in the 1997 municipal election.

So far, voters have returned 6,800 absentee ballots, said Doris Twedt, assistant city clerk. With five more days for the clerk's office to receive absentee ballots, that tally is about 20 percent higher than the 5,650 people who voted by absentee in 1997. That year, just 15,898 voters cast ballots in the Glendale City Council race.

Glendale has 78,059 registered voters.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political science professor at the Claremont Graduate School's Center for Politics and Policy, said the Glendale absentee jump is part of a trend in California and shows that the phenomenon is reaching local elections.

``In the November 1998 (statewide) election, 25 percent of the vote came in absentee,'' Jeffe said. ``It's a means by which candidates feel they can get around the apathy we see in voting. You make it easier by bringing the polls to the people and you can target your voters.''

There's been a high level of interest in the race because the two incumbents up for re-election this year decided not to run. A pack of 13 are in the running, including several homeowner activists who promise they will lead the charge for a slow-growth future in Glendale.

``It's going to be very close. It's going to be one of those battles to the last minute,'' said Bob Yousefian, a home remodeler making his second bid for a council seat.

The boost in absentees has been driven by candidates Rafi Manoukian, Gus Gomez and Mike Smith, who each sent out campaign mailers with absentee voter applications.

It's just one of many strategies the candidates have used to set themselves apart from the crowd. Manoukian, a local accountant, focused not just on absentees but also on voter registration. He said up to 1,000 new Glendale voters signed up through the efforts of the city's Armenian community in support of his candidacy and his own campaign.

Manoukian is the money leader in the race. As of the last filing deadline on March 20, Manoukian had raised $37,000. But the candidate said he's now up to $47,000.

Gomez had raised $27,000 by March 20, but reports now he has raised $33,000 and spent about $25,000, most of it on mailers and supporting volunteer phone banks. Gomez said he thinks his investment in an absentee campaign was worth the money.

``I'm very confident that a high percentage of people who sent the application to us are voting for me,'' Gomez said.

Yousefian, who was third in fund raising and spending behind Gomez, said he didn't do an absentee campaign and candidates who did shouldn't assume the resident is going to vote for the candidate who sent them the application form.

``The high propensity voters in the city are getting older in the city and they are voting by mail,'' Yousefian said. ``But, I don't think people vote for a person just because they sent them an absentee ballot application.''

Yousefian had raised nearly $22,000 by March 20, but said he doubts he'll top $30,000 by the end of the race.

Yousefian said he sent out only two mailers, but has taken out ads in newspapers and television, including local Armenian-language stations.

Yousefian has also done polling, which he says shows himself, Gomez, Smith and flower shop owner Larry Miller in a tight race.

Miller comes in fourth in terms of money raised, with more than $20,717. Miller and Gomez both received their largest contributions from the Glendale Police Officers Association and the Glendale Firefighters Association. Both organizations gave the candidates $1,000.

Smith, who trades rare documents for a living, was fifth in fund raising with $17,543. Smith lost his chance for a council seat in 1997 by just 120 votes.

Hoover High School teacher Nick Doom was sixth in the money race, raising $13,712 by the latest filing date and spending nearly $9,000.

Councilman Dave Weaver said all these candidates have so far raised and spent more than the $12,000 he put into his 1997 run for council. While well-known incumbent candidates have raised more than $50,000 for previous campaigns, Weaver said newcomers like Manoukian have never raised so much before.

``You have candidates who have never run before in the $30,000 range. In a few short months they have been able to command $30,000 to $40,000,'' Weaver said. ``It makes me scared of what I'm going to have to raise in two years.''

David Wallis, a part owner in a local Armenian-language television station, loaned his own campaign $26,500 according to his campaign filing, but had only spent $983. The rest of the candidates all raised less than $5,000.