Voters around the state reported scattered problems obtaining ballots in California's presidential primary Tuesday, including some independent voters who said they were kept from voting in the Democratic contest and others who worried their ballots might not be counted.
In Los Angeles County in particular, some independents who voted in the Democratic contest feared that their votes would be thrown out because they did not mark a separate Democratic Party bubble.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen, concerned that some independent voters were improperly denied partisan ballots, issued a statement hours before the polls closed, reminding workers of the rules allowing independents to vote in the presidential primary.
Independents, officially known in California as decline-to-state voters, were entitled to vote in the Democratic Party or American Independent Party primaries. The California Republican Party declined to let independents vote in its presidential contest.
"The secretary of state's Voter Hotline has received several dozen calls from [decline- to-state] voters around the state reporting some county poll workers have not been fully aware of voter rights," Bowen's office said.
Overall, voter turnout was high, and in some places it was evident that ballots were readily distributed to independent voters.
In Riverside and Contra Costa counties, for example, election officials said some polling places were running short of Democratic ballots by the afternoon and more had to be delivered. After 14 polling places in Alameda County ran out of ballots, the registrar of voters directed that they remain open as late as 10 p.m., said Guy Ashley, a spokesman for the registrar.
Independents could play a large part in choosing the Democratic nominee. They make up more than 19% of all registered voters, compared with 43% who are registered Democrats. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has done well among independents in some states and hoped to in California.
In Los Angeles County, problems for independent voters were compounded by a unique voting system that required them to mark the party designation in addition to the candidate
Paul Drugan, executive assistant with the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder's office, acknowledged that hundreds of ballots might be thrown out because the party bubble wasn't marked. But he said the instructions on the ballot were clear and that election officials had been educating independent voters about the requirement for months.
