TIPOFF CITY PONDERS VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOTS AFTER POOR MARCH ELECTION TURNOUT.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

Concerned about low turnout among Los Angeles voters, city election officials are considering a proposal to convert to a mail-in system.

The move would make L.A. the first major city in the nation to vote entirely by mail, although neighboring Burbank has used the system successfully for years.

City Clerk Frank Martinez said it is just one of the options he will propose to the City Council after the May 15 runoff election.

Just 9 percent of registered voters cast ballots in last month's primary, and the May runoff is expected to draw even fewer because just two school board seats and a community college seat are up for election.

"As it was, absentee and vote-by-mail this year accounted for 45 percent of the turnout," Martinez said. "Without that, we would have only had a 4 (percent) or 5 percent turnout overall."

Costs for a comprehensive vote-by-mail campaign also would be lower because ballots could be sent with sample ballot packages that the city already mails to all voters.

There also would be no need for thousands of polling stations in various precincts.

Martinez said he is still working on final recommendations and other options available to the city to try to increase turnout.

A nearly 20-year-old program that began on the East Coast and was the model for AmeriCorps is expected to kick-start its operation in Los Angeles.

City Year, which brings together teams of young people ages 17 to 24, is set to launch this fall with school mentoring services and community services ranging from after-school to youth-leadership programs.

City Year began in Boston in 1988 as a volunteer effort to deal with urban youth problems. It now operates in 17 cities and involves more than 1,200 young people.

It's not the pay that draws them: They get just $250 a week for 10 months and a $4,000 scholarship at the end of their service.

The real draw, officials say, is that the program gives young people an opportunity to find an area of interest and become involved in their communities.

A fundraiser to help the group will be held April 17 at the House of Blues. Tickets cost $20 to $50.

For information, call the group at [phone] or www.cityyear.org.

Critics of term limits for state officials might need to look no farther than the state Capitol to highlight their argument that longer tenures have some merits.

A flock of new legislators has descended on Sacramento this session, and all of them want to look tough on crime. The result has been a plethora of bills adding penalties or making new things illegal.

Some say such eager young lawmakers have exacerbated state prison overcrowding, with the federal courts threatening to impose a cap on the number of prisoners the state can jail.

State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who chairs the Senate Public Safety Committee, has imposed a nine-month moratorium on any bill that would add to the prison overpopulation problem, The Sacramento Bee reported last week.

"This is public safety and we all want to be tough on crime. But how tough do we look when our own system is rendered unconstitutional," Romero told the newspaper.

"And how tough do we look when our jails and prisons may at some point have to open to let out individuals?"

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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