California

Provisional Ballots Printing Glitch Leaves Nearly 120K LA County Voters Off List

As expected, Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom grabbed a commanding lead Tuesday night in the race for governor, while Republican John Cox made a strong early bid for second place.

Newsom grabbed roughly 35 percent of the vote early, effectively ensuring him of a spot on the November general election ballot. But the real drama is the race for second place.

Cox, powered by an endorsement by President Donald Trump, had more than 27 percent of the vote to easily land in second place. Fellow Republican Travis Allen held a narrow lead for third place with about 11 percent of the vote, followed by Democratic former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa with 10 percent.

None of the other 23 candidates had more than 10 percent of the vote.

Villaraigosa's campaign released a statement that the candidate was calling on the Los Angeles Registrar Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan to keep voting centers open through Friday, Jun. 8 after reports of nearly 119,000 voters' names being omitted from the roster of eligible voters in Los Angeles County during California's primary election Tuesday, a glitch that county officials attributed to a printing error.

Logan called the problem a "random issue with the print job that ran the paper rosters," but said the glitch was not preventing anyone from voting.

Affected voters were being given provisional ballots at the polling place to ensure their votes would be tabulated.

"We are aware and tracking this issue," Logan wrote on his Twitter page in response to questions from voters. "We apologize for the inconvenience this caused you. Provisional ballots are in place to ensure voters have the chance to vote on Election Day."

He assured voters that provisional ballots will be tabulated and included in the election results once registration status and eligibility are confirmed. County Supervisor Hilda Solis issued a statement urging affected voters to obtain and fill out a provisional ballot.

"Regardless of what our hard-working poll workers say, if you believe you are registered to vote and your name does not appear on the roster at your polling place, you have the absolute right to a provisional ballot," Solis said. "Please do not leave any polling place without voting through either a regular ballot or by requesting a provisional ballot. Provisional ballots are counted in the election returns once your registration is confirmed."

Residents were also being urged to verify their polling location, since its possible the location may have changed even after sample ballots were mailed. Polling places can be verified at www.lavote.net/locator.

You can also check your provisional ballot status here.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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