Voting

More than 9 million voters took part in the Feb. 5 presidential primary in California, setting a record for participants and marking the highest turnout rate in a primary since the 1980 election. According to a report by Secretary of State Debra Bowen, 55.7% of registered voters either cast ballots by mail or at precincts around the state. The 1980 turnout was 63.3%. Though the turnout percentage was not a record, the number of participants was.

Democratic Chairman Howard Dean reached out to Florida voters Wednesday to try to repair his party's damaged relations with a pivotal state in the presidential election. Dean committed to do his best to seat the Florida delegation at the party's nominating convention in August. His declaration put Florida back in the convention picture. But it did not resolve the thorny question of how the state's delegates might be allotted to Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Gabriele Leech-Anspach was a young mother with a toddler when Soviet authorities suddenly imposed a blockade on West Berlin in 1948, cutting off all road, train and boat access and leaving 2.2 million Berliners stranded on an island of the new Cold War. "I was 29 years old. I had a boy of 2 years. It was very important that he got enough food," recalled Leech- Anspach, now 89, describing the new anxiety that spread across the city like a cold wind from the East just a few years after a world war had ended.

A grass-roots campaign to save Tempelhof Airport, the epicenter of the Berlin airlift of 1948-49, fizzled after supporters failed to win enough votes in a citywide referendum. Voters endorsed, 3 to 2, a measure to prevent the closure of the Cold War landmark. But election officials said they could not certify the results because turnout was too low. Only 22% of registered voters cast ballots in favor of the measure, short of the 25% required. Berlin lawmakers had previously decreed that the historic site must close in October to make way for a planned international airport on the southeast edge of the city.

In the first detailed analysis of potential immigrant voters and their children in California legislative districts, a study to be released today shows they could constitute nearly one-third of state voters by 2012. The analysis, commissioned by a Bay Area immigrant support group, is seen as a political road map to maximize the state's pro-immigrant vote.

The Supreme Court opened the door Monday to state laws that require voters to show a photo identification before casting a ballot on election day. The ruling is a clear victory for Republicans, who have pushed for such laws to combat election fraud, and comes over the objections of Democrats, who say the requirements make it too hard for some people to vote.

Pakistan's election commission postponed by two months polling for legislative seats that had been due in June, drawing protests from governing parties, whose leaders were mulling runs for parliament. The commission said it was responding to a busy calendar and security concerns. A spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf rejected a claim that he was behind the delay. Anti-Musharraf parties swept the general elections in February. But voting in some areas was voided or delayed. Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto, has said he may stand for the seat that Bhutto had hoped to contest.

As the nation impatiently waited Tuesday for primary results from Indiana's Lake County -- and the city of Gary in particular -- Hoosiers had a sinking feeling. Once again, Gary was going to be the butt of a joke. Brian Howey, a syndicated political columnist in Indianapolis, watched the news broadcasts until 3 a.m. with a growing sense of dread. Cynthia Solomon, a retired accountant from Fort Wayne, buried her head in her pillow and groaned.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama renew their skirmishing Saturday in a hotel ballroom in Washington, D.C. -- this time over votes that have already been cast. The balloting in Florida and Michigan was nullified because the two states held their primaries earlier than allowed under Democratic Party rules. Clinton, who won the most votes in both states, is fighting to have the results recognized and the Florida and Michigan delegations seated at the Democratic National Convention in August.