Editorials

LOS ANGELES — Members of a civil rights group Monday announced a plan to address what they called Election Day voting irregularities in South Central Los Angeles during the November election. 

Voters in about 250 precincts encountered polls that had no ballots, lacked elections workers or were closed during voting hours, said the Rev. Norman Johnson, interim executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Los Angeles. 

Voters also told SCLC representatives about not being listed on voter rolls, difficulty calling the registrar, and seeing completed ballots that were not placed in locked boxes. 

“While we were successful getting people to the polls, many people encountered problems once they were there,” Johnson said. 

But officials with the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters said they were not aware of any irregularities at the polls. 

Assistant Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Michael Petrucello said fewer than 10 polls of the 5,000 in the county opened late, and added that it would have been “virtually impossible” for any polling stations to have gone without ballots. 

The registrar-recorder’s office has received about 200 letters commenting on the November election, about same number it receives after any election, Petrucello said. 

SCLC officials, who had no estimate of how many voters may have been affected, are not contending that the South Central voting irregularities affected the outcome of any races. 

Organizers unveiled the African American Voter Registration Education Participation Program to educate voters and poll workers using classes and simulated voting situations.  

Their intention, they said, was to ensure that every vote will be counted in future elections. 

The criticism echoed complaints that blacks in Florida and other states were excluded from the polls in the November election. Some activists have contended that disenfranchisement of black voters, 90 percent of whom are believed to have intended to vote for Vice President Al Gore, may have contributed to Florida’s 25 electoral votes being awarded to George W. Bush. 

“This is an issue here and not just in Florida,” Johnson said.