The Bubble Problem in California - Votes Missing?

[HopeforChange]

In order for independent or republicans to vote they had to ask for a democratic ballot and then they had to punch a bubble that said I want my vote to count towards the democratic primary.

If this happened then many many crossover and independent voters did not get their votes counted. At least not yet.

People did not know this and were confused. They were told that their votes would be counted later.

Did I get this right?

Does anyone know about this?

[Xithras]

1. What are you referring to?

My official registration papers with the state list my party as "Decline To State", which I've never had a problem with since the Democratic Party allows DTS voters to participate anyway (DTS cuts down on the amount of junkmail I get and eliminates robocalls). I asked for a Democratic ballot yesterday and don't remember any bubble asking it to count towards the Democratic primary.

As far as I've ever been aware, at least the way it's been done in the counties I've resided in, there is actually a DIFFERENT ballot depending on how you want to vote. If I'd walked in and wanted to vote independent, my ballot wouldn't have had ANY primary people on it. It's a different ballot altogehter. When I asked for a Democratic ballot, I was handed the same ballot that any other Democrat would be handed. A Republican CAN NOT walk into a polling place and request a Democratic ballot, so they'd never have the option to select a Democrat anyway (this is to prevent cross-party tampering). As a DTS voter, I also cannot request a Republican ballot, because the Republicans in California do not permit Independents and DTS voters to participate in their primaries.

I assumed this was standard statewide. Is this different where you live?

[Cant trust em]

2. Registered republicans can't vote in the Dem primary

only undeclared can request a Dem ballot. In San Francisco where I voted their ballots were a different color. Brown. I think they processed them in the same way as everyone else.

I could be wrong here.

[niyad]

3. welcome to DU--just hwere did you hear this? almost sounds like the joke that

was going around during the 2004 cycle--that there were so many voters, dems were going to have to vote one day, and the others, the next. some people actually believed it.

[rinsd]

4. No, you did not have right.

Republicans are not allowed to vote in the Dem primary. Or vice versa. CA operates what is known as a semi-opne primary where the parties can allow decline to state voters participate but are not required to do so.

There is no special bubble to mark on the ballot.

If you are a Decline to State voter (CA actually has an Independent Party), you were allowed to vote in either the Dem primary & the American independent party's respective primaries and would receive the ballot for those.

[JackORoses]

11. actually, you do not have it right. there was a special bubble on some ballots.

In fact, over 700,000 ballots from Los Angeles alone were held back because of this.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5659

You are sure to hear more about this in the days ahead.

[Fresh_Start]

5. localized problem, not state wide

my ballot (I'm DTS) had no bubble

[HopeforChange]

6. The news reported

The news reported that there was a bubble or spot on the ballots in Los Angeles and some other counties and that you had to specifically check that you wanted the vote to go the the democratic primary in addition to selecting your candidates.

I will try to find this information online somewhere.

[Fresh_Start]

12. yes, it was on Los Angeles ballots

wasn't on my ballot in the bay area.
My ballot was produced by my local county board of election.
Each county may have had unique ballots
For example, San Francisco had different ballots than I did because they had other initiatives to vote on.

Had to do with more than the ballot there was another component possibly voting machine related

[kestrel91316]

7. "Decline to State" voters are the ones with the problem.

"Independents" aka American Independent Party members cannot cross over.

But ANYWAY, apparently it was not obvious that the crossovers had to fill in the "bubble". SHAMEFUL situation that should never have arisen. It will almost certainly result in a court challenge.

Some places in CA also ran completely out of Dem ballots. Like they can't count the registered Dems and DTS's and be f---ing prepared........

------------------

Apparently the "bubble" issue is local to Los Angeles County, which makes it a BIG problem:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20080206-9999-1n6vote.html
In Los Angeles County, a different version of the same problem surfaced.

The Democratic party ballots given to independent voters who requested them included an extra bubble specifying that the ballot is for that party's primary.

If voters failed to mark that spot, the county's scanning machines would not read the selection for president.

Lawyers for the Los Angeles-based Courage Campaign said that violates California election law. The group sent a letter to Los Angeles County officials threatening legal action if the issue isn't addressed.

“We did talk to the county, and they admit it's a problem,” Courage Campaign chairman Rick Jacobs said. “They just don't seem to know what to do about it.”

[HopeforChange]

9. Here is the information I was referring to.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8165670


In addition to vote-tallying issues, some concerns had arisen about the voting process.

Voter-outreach groups criticized the ballot in Los Angeles County, saying it could disenfranchise independent voters.

The Democratic and American Independent party ballots given to independent voters who request them include an extra bubble specifying that the ballot is for that party's primary. The bubble appears before the list of presidential candidates.

If voters fail to mark that spot, the county's scanning machines will not read the selection for president.

Lawyers for the Los Angeles-based Courage Campaign said that violates California election law. The group sent a letter to Los Angeles County officials threatening legal action if the issue isn't addressed before Tuesday's election.

"We did talk to the county, and they admit it's a problem," Courage Campaign chairman Rick Jacobs said. "They just don't seem to know what to do about it."

Other groups, including the California League of Women Voters, said they had fielded numerous calls from independent voters asking how they could get a party ballot.

"These voters are getting ballots that are blank, because they're not in a party, and it did not seem clear to most of the decline-to-state voters that they could request a party ballot," said spokeswoman Elizabeth Leslie.

Independents account for nearly 20 percent of California's registered voters. The GOP does not allow them to vote in the Republican primary, but Democrats and some other parties do.

Los Angeles County's top election official said he did not think most voters would skip the required ballot entry. Primary elections in 2004 and 2006 had the same requirement.

"It would almost be counterintuitive for someone to miss," said Dean Logan, the acting county registrar. "We have put this information in voter education materials, and we've provided real clear instructions."

[Nailzberg]

8. I am DTS, and had to mark a bubble up top to participate in the Dem primary

[HopeforChange]

10. This was the problem

The reporter was saying that alot of people did not know they had to mark that option and the machines won't count the ballots