Voting fiasco a symptom of bigger issues
 

By: Andrew Kleske - Commentary

The election-day fiasco last week left voters wondering if San Diego County officials were asleep at the switch, which they were in more ways than one. However it also further demonstrated that this county is too big to govern itself effectively and fairly.

It has been established, even before any investigation is done, that the county did not listen to the concerns of voters, watchdogs, computer industry experts and even humble newspaper columnists by rushing to the touch-screen voting system without thinking the change through.

The lack of paper receipts left many wondering if the machines really had recorded their votes.

The lack of training left poll workers frustrated when their machines did not work as expected.

The lack of backup voting options locked those with less flexible schedules out of the process entirely if they could not wait for machines to come back online. Workers at one polling place reported that machine tallies and signature tallies did not match up, meaning some votes were not officially cast.

For those in the farthest corners of the county, be it north, east or south, one of the greatest frustrations was hearing county officials downplay the problems and say that people could just drive over to the Kearny Mesa registrar's office to vote.

Therein lies the problem, in a county nearly the size of Connecticut that traditionally has had a "let them eat cake" attitude about its outlying communities.

The county does most of its business in downtown San Diego at 1600 Pacific Highway. If a person from Fallbrook wants to address the Board of Supervisors on the failure of the voting system or on anything else - he must drive more than 50 miles to register to get his three minutes of open-mike time.

If a person from Julian wanted a voting receipt on election day he would have had to drive almost 60 miles to Ruffin Road, where the only machines that performed this function were available.

San Diego County, with about 2.9 million residents, is more than 60 miles tall and more than 85 miles wide, so having just one bank of acceptable voting booths in Kearny Mesa on election day verges upon being actionable.

And having the county's governing body hold court so far from its growing North, South and East County communities increases the likelihood voters will lose interest and/or faith in the process. If residents of outlying communities see their supervisors only when they blow into town for a photo op, why should they believe their issues are getting attention?

Sometime by 2006, the county plans to address these concerns, and the California secretary of state's demand for voting machines that generate a paper trail. Almost certainly this will not be done in time for this November's presidential election. The only real alternative is to vote absentee, which many voters find objectionable because it denies them the polling-booth experience.

Resolving this issue does not cure the ailment. A county government so focused on its urban core cannot hear the voices in the wilderness.

Andrew Kleske is a North County Times staff writer. E-mail: kleske@nctimes.com.