Provisional Ballots

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded the state's Republican primary to her "tea party"-backed rival Tuesday night, an outcome that illustrated voters' anger with the Washington establishment and the power of former Gov. Sarah Palin in her home state. Murkowski, who had trailed Joe Miller by fewer than 1,700 votes on election night, had made gains as election officials began counting thousands of absentee and provisional ballots. At one point on Tuesday, the margin narrowed to about 1,200.

What if you held an election and the person who was supposed to bring the ballots didn't show? That's what happened Tuesday morning at one polling place in Venice. We may live in a high-tech society, but in L.A. County, at least the act of voting remains decidedly low-tech. You step up to a little plastic booth with a paper card and mark it with an inky stylus and then stick it in a plastic tub. So when the election inspector for Precinct 9001554A in Venice was a no-show at 6 a.m. at the Venice Methodist United Church polling location, the poll workers found themselves without ballots, vote recorders, portable booths or the voter roster — only an hour before the polls opened.

This week's elections settled dozens of offices and issues but left unresolved -- technically, at least -- the winners of two races for vacant legislative seats in Southern California. It will take June 8 runoffs to fill a Glendale-Los Angeles area Assembly job and a Riverside County state Senate post.

Kasim Reed, a former Georgia state senator, held a slim lead in Atlanta's mayoral runoff election, but the tally remained incomplete late Tuesday and appeared headed for a recount. If he maintains his lead, he would hold off a strong challenge from a white city councilwoman and continue the city's 35-year streak of African American leadership. The Fulton County elections office reported that Reed led Mary Norwood by 758 votes, 41,901 to 41,143, with 100% of the precincts reporting.

Two weeks after election day, Kenneth Bennett and Paul Drugan were standing together at the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder's office in Norwalk, gazing through a window that looks into the ballot-counting room. Inside, under pale fluorescent light, workers moved like zombies, feeding ballot after ballot into machines with endless appetites. To Bennett and Drugan, this was a happy sight.

More than 200,000 ballots in L.A. County remained uncounted Tuesday, two weeks after election day. Officials still have to process roughly 175,000 provisional ballots and 19,000 mail-in ballots, said Marcia Ventura, a spokeswoman for the L.A. County registrar-recorder. Election officials have until Dec. 2 to count and report votes. The results will be certified by the secretary of state Dec. 13. -- Kate Linthicum

More than 300,000 ballots in Los Angeles County still remained to be counted Friday, 1 1/2 weeks after voters went to the polls. Election officials are scurrying to process roughly 220,000 provisional ballots and 84,000 mail-in ballots, according to Marcia Ventura, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County registrar. New vote tallies released Friday showed significant changes in one election. Measure H, a ballot measure that would allow construction of a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, was losing by six votes one week ago. But according to Friday's tally, the controversial measure is winning by 40 votes.

The lead became thinner for the transportation sales tax hike known as Measure R, as the Los Angeles County registrar Friday resumed counting ballots. Measure R needed two-thirds approval, and Friday's tally brought yes votes down from 67.4% to 67.2%. There are still about 450,000 late-arriving absentee and provisional ballots to be counted, with the registrar scheduled to resume tallying Tuesday. Campaign officials for Measure R said they expect it will pass because the late absentee votes and provisional ballots tend to favor Measure R more than the early-arriving absentee ballots counted Friday.

Republicans are worried that Tuesday's presidential election will be tainted by fraudulent votes; Democrats fear that minority voters will be disenfranchised. About the only thing the two sides agree on is that the election promises to be messy because of a record turnout and a huge number of newly registered voters -- so messy, in fact, that it could call into question the validity of the outcome and produce another meltdown like Florida in 2000.

The outcome of several Ventura County municipal races will not be known until late next week because a crush of last-minute absentee ballots delivered on election day has delayed the final tally, officials said Thursday. About 75,000 of the roughly 219,000 absentee and provisional ballots cast still have to be counted, said Gene Browning, county assistant registrar of voters. An update is scheduled to be released today.