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Nearly 400,000 have voted in election that may be delayed That growing mountain of absentee ballots could be tossed out if the election is delayed, and waste $30 million in printing and postage costs, says Contra Costa County Clerk Stephen Weir, a spokesman for county elections officials. Or the absentees may have already helped determine the outcome of the Oct. 7 race by locking in votes that might have been changed later. Along with the thousands of ballots already in, voter registrars say each of the state's 58 counties are receiving requests for more each day. It's happening even as a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered a delay in the election the full court may reconsider this week. "As a matter of fact, I think we've had even more requests," said Alma Rosas, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County elections department. "We haven't seen a slowdown of it." "We're swamped," added Tehama County Registrar of Voters Mary Alice George, where one in every 27 voters have already spoken through absentee ballots. County and state officials say that even as the courts decide if there will be an Oct. 7 election, much of it is being settled now on kitchen tables from Mount Shasta to Chula Vista. Counties also report thousands more votes are being faxed from overseas military bases and field posts, where approximately 7,000 Californians in uniform are registered to vote absentee. The state is allowing counties to fax and e-mail absentee applications overseas to meet deadlines already impossible by mail. All this interest in absentee voting in what could be a tight race worries both Democrat and Republican operatives, who fret about thousands of voters who won't be able to change their minds to meet late-changing circumstances. For Democrats, the concern is that some voters who might be persuaded to keep Gov. Gray Davis in office have already cast absentee ballots to oust him. For some Republicans, particularly those who believe actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the party's most electable candidate, the fear is that supporters of Sen. Tom McClintock have already voted and aren't able to vote for Schwarzenegger if McClintock drops out. "We talked about that at the (Republican) convention last week," said Kern County Republican chairwoman Karen DeWalt. Once a voter has turned in a ballot, "they don't get to get it back," said Sacramento County elections manager Alice Jarboe. "But if they vote for a candidate who pulls out of the race and they haven't turned their ballot in, they can call our office and we will issue a replacement." On Wednesday, the secretary of state's office reported 379,273 marked absentee ballots had already arrived at county elections departments, with thousands more in the mail. Statewide, more than 2 million voters are signed up to vote absentee, said spokeswoman Shirley Washington. The deadline for applying is Sept. 30, and absentee ballots must be returned by election day. The statewide tally of returned ballots so far included 40,000 in San Diego County, more than 30,000 in Los Angeles County, 15,000 in Contra Costa County and 7,000 in Placer County. Santa Clara County reported getting 15,000 absentee ballots -- 2,000 of them Tuesday. Sacramento County reported 16,000 people have already voted.
"It's incredible. We don't normally get 16,000 voting ballots back in our offices one week after we mail them out," said Jarboe. She said the returns and applications seem equally split between Republicans encouraged by Schwarzenegger's recall campaign and
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