Ask a Republican in Washington state about Dean C. Logan, Los Angeles County's interim elections chief, and this might be the answer: "I'm really shocked that anyone would consider hiring Dean Logan to run an elections department," former state party leader Chris Vance said.
Ask a Democrat there, and the answer might be like this: "He was marvelous. I have nothing but high praise for Dean," King County Executive Ron Sims said.
The man at the heart of Los Angeles County's recent primary election fracas has been at the epicenter of controversy before. Nearly four years ago, his efforts changed the outcome of a hotly contested gubernatorial contest, polarizing Washington state and turning "Logan" into a household name.
Last month, Logan, L.A. County's interim registrar-recorder/county clerk, was in the news once again after nearly 50,000 decline-to-state voters failed to mark an additional bubble on their ballots indicating that they intended to vote in the Democratic or American Independent party primaries during the Feb. 5 elections.
Those ballots, which had been used in several previous elections, were not initially counted, and Logan came under a barrage of criticism from activists who claimed he ignored their calls to review every ballot.
Amid calls for his resignation, county supervisors told Logan to devise a way to count the disputed votes. He did so, and supervisors have stood by him since then, even praising his work. His new charge is to design a better ballot for the June election.
Although most would shy away from such public controversies, Logan, 40, who earns $175,826 a year, steadfastly maintains his love for the elections process and his loyalty to the cause and those who work under him.
An early start
Logan was first attracted to the bureaucratic inner workings of democracy at age 10, when his family volunteered to help campaign for a friend vying for an elected seat in his native Kitsap County, in northwestern Washington state. He stayed involved with local government through high school and eventually was offered a part-time job at the local elections office and ran with it.
Logan's resume includes county clerk of Kitsap County, an elected position, as well as stints for the Washington secretary of state's office. He also worked for a time as a lobbyist for the AFL-CIO.
