Dean Logan

Even after he records the final results from Tuesday's historic presidential election, Los Angeles County's election czar isn't likely to get any rest. When he's done counting roughly 16% of the ballots left over from Nov. 4, Dean Logan, the county's registrar-recorder, will turn his attention toward improving the democratic process for the next generation.

San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris' lead in the race for California attorney general continued to grow Tuesday, making a possible comeback appear increasingly difficult for her rival, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. Harris, the Democratic nominee, led by 31,000 votes Tuesday evening, with more than 555,000 uncounted ballots left to be processed across California, according to a Times review of updated vote counts in all 58 counties. Working against Cooley, the Republican, is the fact that about 350,000 of the remaining ballots are in counties Harris carried on election day. Perhaps as an indication of the vote trend, Cooley's campaign aides over the last five days have been filing complaints about what they allege is bias toward Harris on the part of Los Angeles County elections officials.

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.

Even after he records the final results from Tuesday's historic presidential election, Los Angeles County's election czar isn't likely to get any rest. When he's done counting roughly 16% of the ballots left over from Nov. 4, Dean Logan, the county's registrar-recorder, will turn his attention toward improving the democratic process for the next generation.

San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris' lead in the race for California attorney general continued to grow Tuesday, making a possible comeback appear increasingly difficult for her rival, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. Harris, the Democratic nominee, led by 31,000 votes Tuesday evening, with more than 555,000 uncounted ballots left to be processed across California, according to a Times review of updated vote counts in all 58 counties. Working against Cooley, the Republican, is the fact that about 350,000 of the remaining ballots are in counties Harris carried on election day. Perhaps as an indication of the vote trend, Cooley's campaign aides over the last five days have been filing complaints about what they allege is bias toward Harris on the part of Los Angeles County elections officials.

Re "History in the marking," editorial, Feb. 13 Why are you so upset by some people's ballots not being counted? How do we know that they who cannot read and follow simple instructions can make an educated decision about which candidate to vote for? Judith Olah Beverly Hills -- It's time Acting County Registrar Dean Logan stopped acting. We need a pro who appreciates the necessity of counting ballots when voting intentions are clear. Barry Greenfield West Hollywood

The election director in Seattle's King County said that 561 absentee ballots were mistakenly rejected in the heavily Democratic stronghold -- enough to swing the close governor's race to Democrat Christine Gregoire. A statewide hand recount is underway after Republican Dino Rossi came out ahead of Gregoire by 42 votes out of 2.9 million cast. King County Elections Director Dean Logan said he would ask the county Canvass Board to amend the results of the Nov. 2 election in his county.

California counties are authorized to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples beginning June 17, state officials announced in a memo sent Wednesday to county clerks and recorders. The memo from the state Office of Vital Records says the date was chosen because it follows the deadline for the California Supreme Court to decide whether to stay its ruling legalizing gay marriage. "The information we received today will enable us to put together and finalize an implementation plan and to get the word out, so people know what to expect," said Dean Logan, acting Los Angeles County registrar-recorder and clerk.

County elections officials should devise a way to count as many of the estimated 50,000 disqualified ballots as possible from last week's primary election as soon as possible, supervisors told Interim Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan on Tuesday. The votes were disqualified when independent voters who wanted to vote in the Democratic primary failed to mark a bubble that indicated they were voting as a Democrat. Logan told the board that the practice, which was used only in Los Angeles County, would be discontinued.

Re "Flaw on ballot went unheeded for 6 years," Feb. 18 The bottom line I got from this article is that Los Angeles County election officials really don't think that voting is worth much. While trying to hold elections as cheaply as possible, the county registrar has disenfranchised thousands of voters -- and doesn't have a coherent plan to fix the mess that's been created. County Registrar Dean Logan's statement that the statewide margins were large so a few thousand votes don't matter is completely wrong.

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.

Re "Election czar's to-do list includes reforms," Nov. 10 The article indicates that Dean Logan, Los Angeles County's registrar-recorder, wants to replace the county's "much-maligned" InkaVote system, though no reason is given other than a vague reference to "improving the democratic process." As a longtime election clerk and inspector, I sincerely hope that he reconsiders. InkaVote is efficient, simple to demonstrate and use, and lets voters see exactly how they are casting their ballots.

Acting Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan told supervisors Tuesday he believed that at least 25,000 of the 50,000 discarded ballots from the Democratic presidential primary will end up being valid. Supervisors told Logan earlier this month to devise a way to count all the ballots that had been disqualified from the Feb. 5 primary election. Votes were disqualified when independent voters who wanted to vote in the Democratic or American Independent party primaries failed to mark a bubble that indicated their party choice.