WERE 'GLITCHES' TO BLAME FOR LOW ELECTION TURNOUT?

Byline: James Nash Staff Writer

In an election at which only about 13 percent of Los Angeles' 1.4 million registered voters cast ballots, turnout on Tuesday might have been further depressed by glitches at some polling places, frustrated voters and a campaign spokesman said Thursday.

While there were no reports of a widespread election day meltdown, some San Fernando Valley voters said they encountered polling places that were closed or where ballots were not ready.

A spokesman for newly elected Councilman Bernard C. Parks said problems were more widespread across his 8th District in South Central Los Angeles.

Many voters who went to their regular polling places found them closed because the City Clerk's Office did not operate many polling stations that had fewer than 250 registered voters, said Parks spokesman Kerman Maddox.

``We had a disaster on election day,'' Maddox said. ``We spent a considerable amount of time on election day responding to people who had showed up to polling places that were closed or had changed (locations).''

Frank Martinez, executive officer in the City Clerk's Office, disputed Maddox's account. Voters in the precincts with closed polling places received a letter in early February announcing the closures and giving them the opportunity to vote by mail, Martinez said.

In the Valley, Granada Hills resident Larry Legrand said his polling place at Knollwood Country Club was closed when he arrived at 7:45 p.m. election day. The polls were supposed to close at 8.

``In our area, that's so highly irregular,'' he said.

Tujunga resident MaryAnne Steinberger said she received a notice that her polling place had been moved from a museum to a church. But when she arrived at the church, she was sent back to the museum, where poll workers were not ready to process her ballot, she said.

``We're trying to be good citizens and vote and they're doing this,'' she said.

Martinez said any undertaking as large as an election - Tuesday's had 1,930 polling places and 8,000 poll workers - is bound to have a few glitches.

``Overall, it was a well-run election, especially because we were facing the same problem that the county of Los Angeles faced, which was redistricting,'' he said.

In 2002, the county's election process suffered a breakdown that officials blamed on problems due to redistricting, poll workers quitting or not showing up, and other complications related to the earlier date of the primary election.