Despite heavy turnout few voting problems in OC

By TONY SAAVEDRA, TERI SFORZA, SAM MILLER, JESSICA TURRELL, MARY ANN MILBOURN, and CAMINO PONGA
The Orange County Register

Gay marriage and mechanical breakdowns raised the blood pressure Tuesday at some Orange County polling places in an election marked by hope and frustration.

The debate over Proposition 8 brought police to a few polling places – mainly at schools and churches – where campaigners stretched the law as far as they could.

At Temple Baptist Church in Fullerton, Newport Harbor High in Newport Beach and Don Juan Avila Middle School in Aliso Viejo, the "No on 8" campaigners argued that state law allowed them to campaign as long as they were 100 feet from the entrance to the polling area.

Church and school officials maintained that they had the right to remove all electioneers from their property, even if they were a legal distance away from the voting.

In most cases, the Proposition 8 advocates and protesters left, but not before pressing the issue.

At Westminster's Precinct 003941 on Magnolia Street, the Christian Reform Church of Orange County was wrapped in "Yes on 8{Prime} signs – all the legal distance away from the polling area. The signs formed a veritable fence of traditional families throwing their arms up in elation.

At the end of the phalanx was a plain and sober "VOTE" sign, denoting an official polling place.

Even some pro-8 voters thought the display a bit much but the county Registrar said the signs were legal and the signs were still there at mid-day.

Not so at Sea Coast Grace Church in Cypress, where staffers plucked Yes on Prop. 8 signs like so many weeds Tuesday morning. "We wanted our campus to be a neutral environment for people not to be hassled," said Cody Surratt, a pastor.

Prop. 8, obviously, elicits a great deal of passion. Longtime Republican activist Kenneth Fisher reports that about 10 Yes on 8 signs that sprouted at the corner of Bixby and Brookhurst in Garden Grove were destroyed overnight. Reports of vandalized signs have been furiously reported by both sides.

While massive confusion didn't materialize, many individuals were flustered at the polls

At Westpark and Turtle Rock elementary schools in Irvine, most of the voting machines were out of order, causing long lines and forcing voters to use paper ballots.

When the machines sputtered at the Alipaz Street polling site in San Juan Capistrano, poll workers deftly turned to the paper ballots – except nobody had anything to write with.

Billy Klein has been moving from motel to motel lately, and hasn't had a permanent address. He registered to vote with a post office box in Costa Mesa, and was upset when he arrived at his polling place and was told that post office boxes weren't acceptable addresses. He was offered a provisional ballot instead of a regular ballot. That was upsetting; about one-third of the provisional ballots cast in the last presidential election were never counted, he said.

In the end, Klein cast a provisional ballot.

Registrar of Voters spokesman Brett Rowley said that homeless voters have every right to vote, too. They can even use a post office box as their mailing address - so long as they list a physical address as well. It can be the location of a park, it can be a homeless shelter, it can be an intersection - it just has to be an actual place.