Denial of GOP ballots tops poll problems

The San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | February 7, 2007 | Craig Gustafson

[TankerKC]

Some voters are livid. Conservative talk-radio hosts hammered away at the injustice. The Republican Party's San Diego chapter is investigating.

Why were so many longtime Republicans denied that party's ballot on Super Tuesday? Stop the conspiracy theories. The culprit turns out to be the state GOP and good, old-fashioned paperwork – the kind where technicalities can be so technical.

The state party's decision to hold a closed primary left nonpartisan voters unable to request a Republican ballot. This has been the case for years for the presidential nomination – not state races – but went unnoticed in 2004 because President Bush ran unopposed.

In turn, a vast majority of voters who thought they were registered Republicans in fact were not. They were listed as nonpartisan if they changed their address with the registrar of voters but failed to mark a political party on the form.

Those voters never noticed before because they had been allowed to request Republican ballots in state races, which are open to nonpartisans.

Local radio hosts Rick Roberts and Roger Hedgecock railed yesterday on the apparent slight against Republicans. The chairman of the Republican Party of San Diego County, Tony Krvaric, said the group is looking into all complaints from its members to see if any were wrongly denied a vote.

By far, the denial of a Republican ballot was the most common complaint at the county Registrar of Voters Office during and after the election. Election officials received hundreds of calls and are sifting through each case.

Most of these would-be Republicans fall into two categories: They failed to select a party on their voter registration forms or they chose “decline to state.” In either case, voters are then considered nonpartisan.

County spokesman Mike Workman said some voters may have chosen “decline to state” thinking it was a privacy issue, but the registrar needs to know a voter's party affiliation to hand out the correct ballots on Election Day.

Workman said there were about five cases of data-entry errors by the registrar's office that resulted in voters being classified incorrectly. Those problems were resolved and their votes counted.

Voters such as Ben Hoy, however, won't be so lucky.

Hoy, 27, showed up at his San Marcos polling place Tuesday and asked for a Republican ballot. Poll workers told him he was listed as nonpartisan but allowed him to cast a provisional ballot for Republicans.

Hoy's voting record shows that he failed to declare a party on his voter registration form when he moved in October 2005. Since he's nonpartisan, his ballot won't be counted.

“I'm not OK with that,” Hoy said. “They should at least look at the history of what you've done in the past. . . . They can see I used to be a registered Republican” in previous elections.

Airline pilot Greg Conitz, 50, found himself in a similar bind when poll workers refused to give him a GOP ballot because of his nonpartisan status. Conitz moved to Julian in 2004 and re-registered to vote, but records show that he failed to select a party. The lifelong Republican doesn't recall filling out the form but didn't dispute its accuracy.

“It aggravates you, certainly, probably quite a bit, especially at the moment you realize you can't vote,” Conitz said. “And now I realize that it's very important for me to keep a very close eye when they do send out ballot forms.”

Hoy and Conitz were two of a dozen voters who contacted The San Diego Union-Tribune complaining about problems at the polls.

Other voter issues include:

Poll workers looking at voters' ballots. The newspaper received numerous complaints about workers improperly looking at completed ballots before putting them in secure boxes.

Richard Burger, a La Jolla chiropractor, said it was “beyond appalling” that workers violated his right to a secret ballot.

Election officials acknowledged that they had complaints and said some workers weren't following procedure. Poll workers should never have to look at a filled-in ballot, they said.

One voter complained of missing absentee ballots for a group of Tierrasanta voters. Officials could find no evidence to verify the problem.

[TankerKC]

More on the San Diego County ballot issue. I never thought there was a conspiracy, but I fail to believe the Registrar couldn't have avoided this.

[martin_fierro]

CA GOP can’t find its a$$ with both hands.

[Brilliant]

“Why were so many longtime Republicans denied that party’s ballot on Super Tuesday? Stop the conspiracy theories. The culprit turns out to be the state GOP...”

That’s PROOF of a conspiracy to me. The liberal Schwarzenegger Republicans fixed it for McCain.

[TankerKC]

That’s PROOF of a conspiracy to me. The liberal Schwarzenegger Republicans fixed it for McCain.

How would they know which Republicans to deny and which to allow?

[Right Cal Gal]

But there’s no explanation for people who didn’t re-register, who had been living at the same address, etc. And why only Republicans? There are no reports of Democrats reporting that they had been shifted to “Non-Partisan” or “Declined to State” - granted, they would have been able to vote in their primary, but you would think they’d still want to bring the shift in party affiliation to the attention of someone.

[Brilliant]

They check out their yard signs and bumper stickers.

[TankerKC]

But there’s no explanation for people who didn’t re-register, who had been living at the same address, etc.

Exactly

[TankerKC]

They check out their yard signs and bumper stickers.

A black helicopter would facilitate the search for offending yard signs and bumper stickers. That's exactly why I wrap my yard signs in tinfoil. ;)

[PeteB570]

Sorry - no sympathy here.

Either you are or you’re not.

Our county office is on line and I check my registration a couple of times a year.

Republicans are supposed to be the smart ones.

[HawaiianGecko]

"How would they know which Republicans to deny and which to allow?"

I asked the same question yesterday and received this torturous answer: "It was assumed based on polling data that White registered Republican voters in the Southern California area would vote Romney; Hispanic and other minority Republican voters would vote McCain. It would appear that the change in party affiliation that led to many Republicans not casting their votes were NOT, shall we say, Spanish sur-named."

I spent this morning buying all the stock I could afford in both ALCOA and Reynolds tin foil wrap companies.

[TankerKC]

Our county office is on line and I check my registration a couple of times a year.

Well, I'm proud of you.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

“There are no reports of Democrats reporting that they had been shifted”

Interestingly enough, I believe non-partisans are allowed to vote in the Democratic primary.

[HawaiianGecko]

"But there’s no explanation for people who didn’t re-register, who had been living at the same address, etc. And why only Republicans? There are no reports of Democrats reporting that they had been shifted to “Non-Partisan” or “Declined to State”"

Sure, there are very valid explanations. First, since this is the first time the GOP closed it's primary, people that didn't re-register didn't know until Tuesday that they have been registered as non-partisan for years.  Second, since anyone could vote in the Democrat primary, no one was turned down.  When I voted Tuesday nobody said "hey did you know you are non-partisan?" 

[PeteB570]

Try being smart some time. It helps you get through life.

Then I can be proud of you.

[TankerKC]

First, since this is the first time the GOP closed it's primary, people that didn't re-register didn't know until Tuesday that they have been registered as non-partisan for years.

I'm sure there is some of that, but there were folks calling in to Roger Hedgecock's show Tuesday night that had their registration cards with them when they went to the polls and the cards proved that they were registered as Republicans...at one time.

[jamese777]

“There are no reports of Democrats reporting that they had been shifted”

Interestingly enough, I believe non-partisans are allowed to vote in the Democratic primary.”

---

You’re absolutely right.
The California Dems ran an open primary where independents/non-partisans/declined to state voters were allowed and the California Republcan Party ran a closed primary where only registered Republicans were allowed to vote.
No conspiracy, just different rules set up by different parties.

[svcw]

I don’t know why - thats all they are.

[Yosemitest]

Democrats are always crooked and believe everyone else is, too. Conservatives care about the United States so much ...
that they're willing to DEFEAT McCain to save the nation!!!

McCain needs to wake up and smell the "VILE"!!!

"Bipartisanship" Is A Dirty Word; and RUSH: "We want to defeat them"

[CharlesWayneCT]

THe problem I think was in the process of address changes. A “decline to state” should have been interpreted as “don’t change what I already am”, not a “switch me to non-partisan”.

That seems to have been the source of most of the difficulty.

The Republican party should of course have been contacting all of its voters because it should be trying to raise money and get them to vote.

If it noticed THOUSANDS of former republicans now saying they are independents, the REPUBLICAN PARTY should have written to them asking why.

Another reason government should get out of party politics, and let the parties do their own thing.

[Cold Heat]

Sorry, but they get no sympathy from me.

A Republican primary is just that. A primary for Republicans.

For those who follow the populist Lou Dobbs, and get into a tiff that results in their conversion to a Independent, then they are No longer Republicans.

Geeez......Ain't that simple logic.....