Countdown to Vote Tally Begins

By Jorge Casuso

March 18 -- The City Clerk's office Tuesday evening began removing from their envelopes the more than 16,400 Prop A ballots that have been received during the month-long, all-mail election that ends Friday night.

Sorted by precinct, the votes to determine whether an owner's consent is required before a single family home is declared a landmark or included in a historic district will not be counted until the voting closes at 9 p.m. Friday night, officials said.

"We open the envelopes, separate the ballots and put them in precinct order," said Assistant City Clerk Beth Sanchez. "It's starting today. It keeps going until we're done."

The special election -- expected to cost the City an estimated $110,000 -- has so far seen about 30 percent of Santa Monica's 53,304 voters send in their ballots, with the rival sides spending a combined total of more than $200,000 to get out the vote.

(The preliminary turnout surpasses the 14,869 votes cast in the City's last special election in April 1999, when Mayor Richard Bloom was elected to the City Council.)

For an election that has little direct impact on Santa Monica residents -- only 16 homes have been designated as landmarks -- both proponents, the Homeowners for Voluntary Preservation, and opponents, Save Our Neighborhoods, have been waging a fierce battle to get out the vote.

Proponents -- who spent $111,527 to qualify the measure for a special election -- have spent $124, 454 on a campaign that primarily targets homeowner precincts.

Opponents -- whose campaign is run by Park Skelton, who manages the campaigns for Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR) -- are targeting tenants, who make up approximately two-thirds of the city's electorate, and have spent $81,330.

The City Clerk's office has been working overtime on Santa Monica's first mail-in election. According to the clerk's office, workers pick up the ballots from a special election post office box in the afternoon. The ballots are then alphabetized and scanned into an absentee voting program. The absentee report is generated and emailed to the proponents and opponents of the measure.

The signatures on the envelopes are then verified against the County Registrar-Recorder's voter database. All verified envelopes were placed in a vault until Tuesday evening, when they were opened and separated from the ballots.

Votes will continue to be collected until 9 p.m. Friday. On Election Day, City Hall will open at 7:00 a.m., and a staff member from the clerk's office will be stationed at the sidewalk from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The worker will accept ballots from anyone wishing to drop them off at the curb, according to a memo from City Clerk Maria Stewart to top City officials.

"Voters may opt to come in to City Hall and vote inside as well," Stewart wrote. "At 9:00 p.m., the staff person will take any ballots received to Council Chambers. The staff person will be escorted by a police officer at all times.

"At approximately 8:00 p.m., we will transfer the ballots that have been processed to date to Council Chambers, escorted by a police officer. The processed ballots will have been taken out of the sealed envelope, separated from the secrecy envelope, checked to assure that the ballot is not torn or spoiled in any way, and grouped into precinct order.

"The ballots will have been placed in a sealed ballot box with the precinct number visible. These are the boxes that will be transferred to Chambers. This process will have taken place approximately within the last two days prior to the election.

"After the official closing of the polls at 9:00 p.m., our elections consultant will begin processing the ballots through his computer, for a count, after having run an efficiency test on the computer. The process will be similar to the counting of the April 1999 election in Council Chambers.

"The counting area will be roped off to everyone, except election staff (no exceptions). There will be two police officers standing guard. However, the process will be visible to anyone and everyone present in Council Chambers and will be aired (on CityTV) live as well as on the (City's) Web site. Staff will be available to answer questions regarding the counting process, as it takes place.

"Provided there are no major technical problems, we expect to be finished with the counting of all the processed ballots within an hour and one half. There will be a number of ballots received in the mail on March 21, and ballots dropped off at City Hall on the same day.

"Depending on the number, some or all of those ballots may not be counted on election night since we will still have to process them and verify the signatures of the voters prior to counting them," Stewart concluded.

Staff writer Erica Williams contributed to this report