March 14, 2009 - Some voters didn't flip over their ballots in Pasadena school board race

Paper: Pasadena Star-News (CA)
Title: Some voters didn't flip over their ballots in Pasadena school board race
Date: March 14, 2009
Author: Dan Abendschein, Staff Writer

PASADENA - Voters in one district may have neglected to flip over their ballots to vote in a school board race in Tuesday's elections.

Because of a large number of council and school board candidates in District 7, officials had to print the vote box for Seat 7 in the Pasadena Unified School District on the back of the ballot.

But some voters weren't advised.

"It was very unfortunate. I didn't even notice until afterward," said Betty LaCavera, who volunteered to assist at a polling place at the Assistance League of Pasadena on California Boulevard, where 55 percent of voters left the back of the ballot blank.

Several other poll workers said they also were unaware there was a contest on the reverse side.

More than twice as many voters in District 7, 42 percent, left the Seat 7 box empty, compared to about 18.5 percent of voters in District 5 and District 3.

But City Clerk Mark Jomsky said it's difficult to draw any conclusions from the numbers, let alone attribute the low vote rate to the two-sided ballot. He suggested voters may have ignored Seat 7 because incumbent PUSD board member Ed Honowitz ran unopposed.

"To get an accurate, actual explanation, you'd have to talk to every voter," said Jomsky. "You can't be sure."

Before the election, city officials held a training session for poll workers at which the two-sided ballot was discussed and volunteers were instructed to make sure voters knew about the race on the reverse side, Jomsky said.

He also provided a copy of a manual officials gave volunteers that instructed them to inform voters about the ballot.

"Absolutely, we knew," said poll worker Robert Soos, who volunteered at the Hill Avenue Library voting station. "We told everyone as they went to vote."

Even so, 35 percent of voters in that precinct left the Seat 7 box blank.

It wasn't the first time the city had used a two-sided ballot. But in past elections, there typically have been many more races on the ballots' reverse side, Jomsky said.

The more races appearing on a ballot, the likelier voters are to pay more attention and read through the entire ballot, according to Doug Johnson, a political consultant and fellow at Claremont McKenna College's Rose Institute.

On the other hand, when only a few items are being decided, like council and school board races, "a lot of people may focus on just the city council race, without knowing that much about the school board races," Johnson said. "They may never realize there is more on the back of the ballot."

And because of the human factor inherent in all elections, mistakes are inevitable, he added.

"It's a classic part of training - no one reads the manual," said Johnson.

Section: News
Record Number: 11913532
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