Los Angeles Times - 07.03.2020

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OPINION

LETTERS

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The problem of lines at
voting centers did not sud-
denly materialize on elec-
tion day.
My daughter went three
different times to vote at
UCLA the day before the
election, and every time
there was a huge line in
which she did not have an
hour to wait. She checked
back on election day twice,
but by then wait times were
three hours.
So, she began the mad
race around Los Angeles to
find another vote center.
She went to two others,
which also had enormous
lines, before finally rolling
into the Proud Bird restau-
rant near LAX at 7:20 pm.
She waited there for two
hours to vote.

The thing that peeved

her most, however, was that

they ran out of stickers.

How is that possible?

So, in addition to not

having enough staff, voting

machines and vote centers,

even the “I voted” sticker

allocation was wrong.

Lisa Marlin

Los Angeles

::

On election day, I

brought in paperwork com-

plete with a QR code. After a

three-hour wait, I was

shocked that the poll

worker manually entered

my information all over

again on the single regis-

tration touch-screen com-

puter at the vote center.

There was no ability to scan

the code.

It is incomprehensible

that no delays were ex-

pected when the number of

polling places was de-

creased by 80%. This should

serve as a warning to those

who think medical care can

be completely revamped

and provided efficiently by

the government.

Thomas Einstein

Santa Monica

::

Election day voters have

some legitimate com-

plaints, but with 978 voting

centers open since Feb. 29

and a smaller number open

since Feb. 22, those stand-

ing in long lines should have

availed themselves of early

voting.

I stood in line in South

Pasadena for 40 minutes on

election day and promptly

went home and filled out an

application for permanent

absentee balloting.

I think Los Angeles

County Registrar-Recorder

Dean C. Logan and his staff

should be lauded for a good

first-time effort. I give high

marks to the new voting

machines.

Francis Cholko

South Pasadena

::

I’m surprised that nei-

ther your March 4 article on

the problems with L.A.

County’s new voting system

nor the letters to the editor

commenting on it mention

an easy solution: Use a

mail-in ballot, fill it out at

home with an ordinary pen,

put it in the envelope pro-

vided, and walk it in to any

voting center, bypassing all

the lines and machines.

I did this at Westwood

Charter Elementary School

— where waits were re-

ported to be up to four

hours — and it took less

than four minutes.

Barbara Ravitz

Los Angeles

::

It’s bizarre what we can

and can’t accomplish.

We can build an atomic

bomb under wartime condi-

tions, put a man on the

moon using 1969 computer

technology, and develop

GPS so precise that golfers

know how many yards they

have to the hole.

But we cannot develop a

voting system that’s reli-

able, avoids long lines and

can’t be broken into in spite

of numerous trial runs and

elections.

Joel Athey

Valley Village

::

In November 2018, the

Studio City church that was

my designated polling place

had, for the first time in my

43 years of voting in my

neighborhood, a long line.

So, I was astonished this

year to see the main Studio

City vote center had only

three people checking in

voters and only four or five

machines. How about a lot

more personnel and voting

machines in each center?

Ellen Butterfield

Studio City

::

Voting in person on

election day in Los Angeles?

Seriously?

Watch a Dodger game on

television. There are empty

stadium seats until the

fourth inning, and you can

see tail lights from cars

leaving the parking lot in the

seventh inning.

If you live in the dystopia

that is Los Angeles, you

must learn how to game the

system.

John Kelley

Costa Mesa

::

Recruit young people to

work at vote centers.

They’re naturals with elec-

tronic gear. Either pay them

or offer extra credit for any

course or acknowledgment

of community service.

They’ll keep the lines

moving.

Ruth Mehringer

Los Angeles

Perspective of

the poll workers

Re “What went wrong in

L.A.?” March 5

As a poll worker, I can say

your reports on long lines

and glitches were spot on.

My site experienced similar

issues, but we were not

overwhelmed and all voters

were finished by 8:30 p.m.

We did take extra time

explaining how to cast bal-

lots. We gathered that most

voters had not read the

instructions mailed to

them. A video should have

been on replay at each site

explaining the process.

We had problems with

names having spaces or

hyphens or no spaces, as

some voters did not know

how they had registered.

Voters appeared unaware

that many residents share

their name. Providing

a sample ballot or a driver‘s

license avoided these

problems.

The registrar needs to

adjust the number of work-

ers and machines at im-

pacted sites or add another

site nearby to handle the

load.

And, finally, no poll

worker at my site had a

second meal or even a

15-minute break during the

final six or seven hours of

voting.

Suzanne Brugman

La Habra

::

I’ve been volunteering as

a poll worker for 10 years.

Apparently, much of the

public was not aware of

early voting, although the

material mailed to them

advertised it. I worked four

days, and the first three

were very quiet. Most people

waited until the last day to

vote.

I was also quite flabber-

gasted to read that at one

site, the clerk didn’t inform

a voter to cast his ballot

back into the machine.

Poll workers were

trained to remind each

voter not to walk away with

their ballot.

My husband voted at my

center and found the new

system to be user friendly.

Having competent clerks

helps the process run

smoothly, as well as voters

doing their homework and

reading the materials be-

forehand.

Karin Gerber

Woodland Hills

Christina HouseLos Angeles Times

VOTERS WAITin line at the vote center at Manhattan Beach’s Marine Avenue Park on Super Tuesday.

Getting out of line

Re “Election day chaos sparks call for L.A. voting revisions,” March 6

I

attempted to vote six timeson Tuesday in Santa Monica but was unable to do so because

of long lines. Wait times ranged from an hour and a half to four hours. I have voted in Santa

Monica in the last four elections and have never had to wait longer than 20 minutes to cast

my ballot.

The new “vote anywhere” system in Los Angeles County was an absolute failure and re-

sulted in a dramatic decrease in polling locations on the busiest voting day of them all. This, com-

bined with opening up these centers as a free for all, effectively disenfranchised me and the many

other voters I saw leave the lines. I missed my first election in my 25 years of voting eligibility.

What happened across Los Angeles County needs to be investigated, and we need to return to

voting by precinct on Election Day this November. Voting in an election should not be this diffi-

cult, especially in a state like California that considers itself a progressive beacon for the rest of

the country.

Abdul Smith, Santa Monica

On May 5, 2003, Villa
Park resident Sergio C.
Stone compared SARS to
malaria:
“Nothing can better
document society’s lack of
proportion and perspective
than the present alarm
about SARS. Without min-
imizing its seriousness and
the threat it may pose to
human health, the near
panic and the economic
disruptions are completely

out of proportion to its

importance.

“Malaria infects millions

in Africa, India, Southeast

Asia and parts of South

America year after year,

devastating their peoples

and the local economies.

Three thousand children die

every day in Africa alone,

and the world does not even

notice.”

On May 7, 2003, William J.

Spelliscy of Orange called

for universal healthcare:

“America’s failure to

provide its citizens with a

national healthcare system

makes it possibly the most

vulnerable nation on Earth

to severe acute respiratory

syndrome or a future terror-

ist-induced epidemic.

“There is no one in Viet-

nam, Japan or Canada who

cannot go to a doctor be-

cause he or she cannot

afford it. In contrast, untold

millions, and rising, cannot

access a healthcare profes-

sional to have their feverish

condition diagnosed in the

U.S.”

On May 11, 2003, Cameron

Lee of Redondo Beach

criticized a university for

overreacting:

“UC Berkeley’s decision

to bar summer students

from certain Asian coun-

tries is misguided and hints

of racism. It claims the

decision is based on logisti-

cal deficiencies, but the

truth is that it was based

entirely on media-fed fear....

“This was a sledgeham-

mer solution to a scalpel

problem. Berkeley is sup-

posed to be an institution of

higher learning. “

On May 27, 2003, Barbara

Sommer of Los Angeles

suggested AIDS was a

bigger problem than

SARS:

“Why has the SARS

scare ‘taken over’ the world

health community — it is

looking to control and cure

the spread as quickly as

possible — while the HIV/

AIDS epidemic has been a

‘back burner’ issue from the

beginning, it seems? Con-

trolling the spread of HIV/

AIDS is as important as — if

not more than important

than — this new virus, in my

opinion.”

FROM THE ARCHIVES

When SARS was scary

A

mong our letter writers, the reaction to the nov-

el coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19,

has mutated from the occasional dismissive com-

parison to the flu when the problem appeared mostly con-

fined to China, to alarm and outrage over the federal govern-

ment’s response to it.
The most recent disease outbreak to which COVID-19 is

being compared is the SARS scare of 2002-03, when thou-

sands of people, mostly in China near Hong Kong, became

sick with a flu-like illness that had a fatality rate near 10%.

Then, the reaction by our letters stayed mostly in the “we’re

blowing this out of proportion” stage, with some exceptions.

Here is what some readers said about SARS in 2003.

—Paul Thornton, letters editor

Vincent YuAssociated Press

HONG KONGresidents at a bus stop wear masks as

a precaution against SARS on April 14, 2003.

Numbers

and letters

A quick breakdown of the

mail we received from

readers this week

745

Usable letters to the

editor were received

between last Friday and

this Friday.

170

Letters were written

about the Democratic

presidential primary, the

week’s most-discussed

topic.

120

Readers mentioned the

coronavirus, the runner-

up topic.

78

Letters were written

about the new voting

system in Los Angeles

County.

HOW TO WRITE TO US

Please send letters to

[email protected]. For

submission guidelines, see

latimes.com/letters or call

1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 74511.

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