(AP Photo)Davis, ACLU Sue Over Calif. Recall Vote
Davis Complains About Cut in Polling Places; Officials Cite Time Constraints, Shortage of WorkersThe Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. Aug. 7 —Gov. Gray Davis says counties will disenfranchise thousands of voters by opening fewer precincts during the Oct. 7 recall election, but election officials say opening all the polling spots would risk chaos because of a shortage of poll workers.
Across California, county voting officials plan thousands fewer precincts for the special election for which they had only 77 days' notice to find voting places and hire poll workers.
On Monday, Davis and five others filed a lawsuit that claims the special election will make it too hard for people to vote, but registrars said they're following standard practice for special elections.
"We're prepared to defend ourselves and our decision," said Los Angeles County Registrar Conny McCormack, who presides over nearly 4 million voters, the nation's largest voting public in one county. Instead of the 4,922 polling places the county opened for last November's election, there will be 1,800 on Oct. 7.
As tensions rise between Davis and local officials thrust into a costly, unprecedented recall election, McCormack and other registrars said they may be helping voters, particularly in poorer urban neighborhoods, vote.
"If the polling place is open I don't know how it is disenfranchising voters," said Brad Clark, Alameda County registrar of voters, adding that voters can use an absentee ballot.
Registrars, McCormack said, are stopping a crisis, because there are often too many precincts and not enough people to run them. In the March 2002 primary election, more than 100 Los Angeles County polling places failed to open on time. Some remained closed until afternoon while officials scrambled to find poll workers.
Voters who have to travel to new polling places are more likely to encounter crowds, confusion and delay, and are less likely to vote than voters who can vote at their normal polling places," says the Davis lawsuit. It states that African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanics will be "disproportionately denied the right to have their votes counted."
History shows such urban voters are more likely to vote Democratic.
The petition to the state Supreme Court asks to delay the recall election until March.
Yet another court challenge to the recall voting procedures was filed Thursday. The American Civil Liberties Union sued in federal court in Los Angeles, arguing six California counties with a high percentage of minority voters, including Los Angeles County, would have to use old, unreliable punch card machines in October.
"In the face of perhaps this country's most closely watched statewide election in history, an Oct. 7 election is a fiasco in waiting," ACLU attorney Mark Rosenbaum said.
Davis' lawyers have made a similar argument in their challenges in state courts.
