Los Angeles Times - 05.03.2020

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■■■ ELECTION 2020■■■

Bernie Sanders signaled

Wednesday his intention to

battle on against Joe Biden,

frustrating some Democrats

who hoped for a quick reso-

lution to their nominating

fight even as the field contin-

ued to shrink with the exit

of billionaire Michael R.

Bloomberg.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of

Massachusetts, who fin-

ished third on Super Tues-

day in her home state and

has yet to win anywhere, was

also weighing her future.

The departure of the for-

mer New York City mayor

came quickly and with no re-

grets hours after Bloomberg

was largely shut out in 15

contests, save for a win in

American Samoa, in the

campaign’s biggest and

most significant day of bal-

loting.

“I’ve always believed that

beating Donald Trump

starts with uniting behind

the candidate with the best

shot to do it,” he told about

1,000 campaign staffers

gathered Wednesday in Mid-

town Manhattan. “And after

yesterday’s vote, it is clear

that candidate is my friend

and a great American, Joe

Biden.”

Bloomberg, who sunk a

record sum — more than

$660 million — into his futile

White House bid, made clear

he planned to keep spending

to drive President Trump

from office, and Biden wel-

comed the assistance in a

tweet.

As vote counting contin-

ued around the country, the

final Super Tuesday contest,

in Maine, was settled with

Biden declared the winner.

That gave him 10 victories to

four for Vermont Sen. Sand-

ers, including California,

Biden-Sanders

fight emerges

as Bloomberg

ends his run

Michigan will test

the top 2 Democrats’

appeal to working-

class voters. Warren

reassessing candidacy.

By Mark Z. Barabak

and Janet Hook

ADAY after he won 10 states on Super Tuesday, Joe Biden answers a reporter’s question in Westwood. His
campaign’s remarkable rebound was bolstered by Michael R. Bloomberg’s endorsement as he exited the race.

Genaro MolinaLos Angeles Times

[SeeDemocrats, A8]

Inadequate staffing, poor
communications and balky
technology turned election
day in Los Angeles County
into an anxious quagmire for
many voters, whose com-
plaints triggered calls
Wednesday by one member
of the Board of Supervisors
for a “forensic autopsy” on
what went wrong.
Voters reported waiting
four hours and longer in
some locations to cast their
ballots. Some bounced from
one polling place to the next,
searching in vain for shorter
lines. At one polling station,
a worker said she wept in

frustration while desperate

voters scratched out their

choices on write-in ballots —

written in languages they

did not speak.

“This is a disgrace,” one

voter, who did not leave a

name, complained to The

Times. He added that the

electronic check-in system

was “nothing but an unholy

mess.”

The messy outcome was

a painful comedown for the

county supervisors and elec-

tions chief Dean Logan, who

invested $300 million in the

effort after prior elections

left votes uncounted and

voters missing from the offi-

cial rolls. Officials had

pledged that the electronic

Voting Solutions for All Peo-

ple system would be easier,

What went wrong in L.A.?

Polling pains spur county supervisor’s motion for a postmortem

By James Rainey,
John Myers,
Dakota Smith
and Benjamin Oreskes

NEW VOTINGmachines, seen at UCLA, confused

some voters Tuesday as sign-in systems stalled and

poll workers were overwhelmed by massive lines.

Al SeibLos Angeles Times

[SeeVoting,A9]

Close tally in

prosecutor race

Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey

is all but certain to finish

well ahead of her rivals.

But has she averted a

runoff? CALIFORNIA, B

SACRAMENTO —Gov.

Gavin Newsom declared a

coronavirus state of emer-

gency Wednesday, hours af-

ter California announced its

first death involving a per-

son who got sick on a cruise

ship possibly more than

half-filled with passengers

from the state.

Local health officials

were trying to assess

whether others who took the

cruise became ill from a

virus that has struck 12

counties in the state and has

sickened more than 50 peo-

ple.

The declaration under-

scored the growing serious-

ness of the virus as it spreads

in the United States, claim-

ing 10 lives and sending fi-

nancial markets spinning.

More communities across

California declared a state of

emergency, and in Washing-

ton, House lawmakers

struck a deal to allocate

about $8 billion to help the

federal government fight the

virus.

The death announced

Wednesday involved a 71-

year-old man from Rocklin,

in Northern California’s

Placer County, who had

tested positive for COVID-

after returning from a cruise

to Mexico. The man first de-

veloped symptoms while on

a Princess cruise from San

Francisco to Mexico that re-

turned Feb. 21, said Dr.

Aimee Sisson, Placer Coun-

ty’s public health officer.

[SeeVirus,A5]

Cruise-traveler death spurs

state to raise virus defenses

Placer County man dies after trip on Princess line

By Soumya

Karlamangla,

Colleen Shalby,

Melody Gutierrez

and Taryn Luna

If there is one thing es-

sential for Democrats as

they look toward taking on

President Trump in Novem-

ber, it is a nominee who can

drive strong, perhaps his-

toric, turnout, either by reas-

sembling the coalition that

twice elected Barack Oba-

ma or by mobilizing masses

of new voters.

Yet the party is now bar-

reling toward its nominating

convention with the race

mostly whittled down to two

candidates in their late 70s

who both have big weak-

nesses in reaching beyond

their respective bases.

Bernie Sanders and Joe

Biden will face a crucial test

in the remaining states in

the Democratic primary,

where both will have to re-

calibrate and — to some ex-

tent rebrand — to broaden

their appeal and unify a frac-

tured party. It is a tall order

for two men who are prod-

ucts of an earlier generation

of politics.

“To beat Trump is going

to take an all-of-the-above

approach, what we saw in

the midterm elections: ex-

panded youth turnout, ex-

panded turnout among peo-

ple of color and continuing

to win crossover votes

among better-educated in-

dependents and Republi-

cans,” said Tom Bonier, chief

executive of TargetSmart, a

Democratic data analytics

firm.

“Whoever the Demo-

Growth

required

to beat

Trump

Neither Democrat can

prevail in November

without broadening

his appeal and

unifying the party.

By Evan Halper

and Janet Hook

[SeeCampaigns,A8]

ANALYSIS

Bloomberg is out,

but he’s not done

The former New York

mayor ends his campaign

for president, but re-

mains determined to

oust Trump. NATION, A

SAN DIEGO — The con-
ventional thinking has long
been that the San Diego re-
gion faces less danger from
a devastating earthquake
than the Los Angeles or San
Francisco areas.
But a new landmark
study shows just how a fault
running through the heart of
San Diego poses a much
more serious threat than be-
lieved a generation ago.
Researchers examined
the effects of the Rose Can-
yon fault producing a plausi-
ble magnitude 6.9 earth-
quake, threatening the civic
and financial center of Cali-
fornia’s second-largest city
and the nation’s fourth-big-
gest naval base, and causing

liquefaction and landslides.

Such a quake could dam-

age 120,000 of San Diego

County’s 700,000 structures

and cause $38 billion in econ-

omic losses from building

and infrastructure damage

and $5.2 billion in lost in-

come from business inter-

ruptions, according to a re-

port released Wednesday by

the Earthquake Engineer-

ing Research Institute’s San

Diego chapter on the first

day of the National Earth-

quake Conference.

San Diego could be dis-

rupted for years. Yet most

people in San Diego either

know nothing about the

Rose Canyon fault or think

it’s still not active, even

though it has been 30 years

since experts confirmed it

was not dormant, said Cali-

fornia Seismic Safety Com-

missioner Jorge Meneses,

president of the institute’s

local chapter and a geotech-

nical engineer.

“This type of mentality

needs to change,” said Me-

neses, whose organization

Long thought safe,

San Diego faces

major quake threat

A temblor on the

Rose Canyon fault

could cause extensive

damage and billions in

losses, research shows.

By Rong-Gong Lin II

[SeeSan Diego,A7]

ARE JET CLEANERS AT RISK?

Nhac NguyenAFP/Getty Images

Some workers at Los Angeles International Airport say they lack the train-

ing and protections to clean planes amid the virus outbreak. BUSINESS, C

Underdogs headed

to runoffs in L.A.

Two upstart candidates

for City Council chal-

lenge officeholders David

Ryu and Mark Ridley-

Thomas. CALIFORNIA, B

U.S.-Taliban

deal at risk

after strikes

Warplanes target fight-

ers assaulting an

Afghan army check-

point, days after the

signing of a tentative

agreement. WORLD, A

Justices weigh

abortion law

Supreme Court conser-

vatives sound as though

they might move cau-

tiously in the Louisiana

case. NATION, A

Long-awaited

trial unfolds

After years of legal

wrangling and decades

of suspicion, New York

real estate heir Robert

Durst now faces allega-

tions of killing his close

friend Susan Berman in

L.A. CALIFORNIA, B

Weather

Mostly cloudy.

L.A. Basin: 78/54. B

Printed with soy inks on

partially recycled paper.

Hand-wringing

over handshakes

Amid outbreak, Germa-

ny’s chancellor urges the

nation to forgo hand-

shakes. But it won’t be

easy. BACK STORY, A

Concert industry

braces for impact

With the music festival

season fast approaching,

promoters are facing

uncertainty and fans’

viral fears. CALENDAR, E

Life at the virus’

U.S. epicenter

In the Seattle suburb of

Kirkland, Wash., stores

close and firefighters are

quarantined as the death

toll rises. NATION, A