Absentee Ballots

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Glendale residents discussed the good, the bad and the future of the local election process in a well-attended town hall meeting hosted by City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian Wednesday. Nearly 80 people packed the Glendale Police Department Community Room for a round-table dialogue on how the public viewed the April 3 municipal election and what improvements could be made for coming elections. Among those gathered were former candidates Herbert Molano, Vrej Agajanian and Lenore Solis.

Joyce Rudolph NORWALK -- The La Crescenta Valley Republican Women Federated invites the public to join the group on a free tour of the L.A. County Registrar's Office in Norwalk. The tour will take place at 10 a.m. June 7. "It should be very interesting because that is the day of the arrival of the absentee ballots, said President Molly Powers. "We will see the complete counting process." Following the tour, the group plans to have lunch at The Country Kitchen Buffet and Bakery, which will cost $10 and is optional.

The absentee ballot application issue seems to be all about how Glendale conducts elections to city positions (“Application ordinance passes,” Wednesday). The draft ordinance said that applications must be sent directly to the Glendale City Clerk’s Office and not to the business addresses of those conducting campaigns for city positions. Proponents of the ordinance clearly did not trust the candidate campaign offices to process the voter ballot applications without reference to voter ethnicities.

ON THE AGENDA The following items will be discussed at tonight’s Crescenta Valley Town Council meeting   The Crescenta Valley Town Council plans to review a letter it wrote to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich asking for increased safety measures at crosswalks near Rosemont Middle School. The request follows the Oct. 29 death of Meri Nalbandyan, an 11-year-old who was fatally struck by a car driving through a crosswalk near Toll Middle School.

In the state's 48th Congressional District, the political process is no longer controlled by those who show up. Mailing in is now where it's at. State Sen. John Campbell nearly swept Tuesday's special election to become the district's congressman on the strength of absentee votes, and his general election opponents will have to target those voters to have a shot at beating him Dec. 6. Campbell will face the top...

In Part 2 of her column, Crescenta Valley Town Council President Grace Andrus reports on the activities of the Council as preparations are being made for the Town Council election on Nov. 3.   Pickens Canyon Park (corner of Briggs Avenue and Foothill Boulevard) is coming along — slowly but surely. The design for the welcome sign has been finalized, and with the mock ups and model being provided by the county, the Council hopes to proceed with the “Welcome to La Crescenta” signs shortly.

You don't even have to be alive to vote On Tuesday, I went to vote in Glendale. When I got to the polling place, there were about a half-dozen voters ahead of me in line. Each took out their driver's license and showed it to the poll-watchers, who checked their names on two lists. When I got to the head of the line, I did not recognize or know the poll-watcher. I had never seen him before and he had never seen me before. He probably did not know me from Adam. I did not show my driver's license, for I knew that the California election laws are written so as to not discourage illegal aliens and dead people from voting.

CITY HALL — The City Council this week broached ditching so-called “emergency ballots” for last minute voters in favor of beefing up absentee vote-by-mail allowances, but stopped short of making any changes for the April 5 election. Glendale voters can request a vote-by-mail ballot up to seven days before the election, but after that deadline they can fill out an application for a so-called “emergency” vote-by-mail ballot up to Election Day. California election law allows for the late ballots for people who are disabled or who cannot make it to their precinct because of “unforeseen circumstances” — a vague term that city officials said essentially makes the application impossible to deny.

All six candidates joined the Crescenta Valley Town Council Saturday, with about 1.4% of the voting population casting a ballot. Voter turnout tends to be low for the advisory board to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, with greater participation occurring when a controversial issue arises or more candidates run for the 12-member body, council members and candidates said. “I wish we had more people running. I wish we had 10 or 14 candidates. I think that in itself would bring out a lot more people,” said Robbyn Battles, an incumbent who won reelection Saturday.

GLENDALE ? On April 3, people will turn out at the polls in droves ? it is hoped, at least ? in order to vote in the City of Glendale Municipal Elections, believing that they are participating in fair elections. But what guarantee does the public have that the outcome of the election is indeed "fair"? What exactly will happen on April 3, between the time when the polls close at 8:00 p.m. and the ballots are taken to the "Central Counting Place"? What steps are being taken to maintain the integrity of the election?

All six candidates joined the Crescenta Valley Town Council Saturday, with about 1.4% of the voting population casting a ballot. Voter turnout tends to be low for the advisory board to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, with greater participation occurring when a controversial issue arises or more candidates run for the 12-member body, council members and candidates said. “I wish we had more people running. I wish we had 10 or 14 candidates. I think that in itself would bring out a lot more people,” said Robbyn Battles, an incumbent who won reelection Saturday.

CITY HALL — The City Council this week broached ditching so-called “emergency ballots” for last minute voters in favor of beefing up absentee vote-by-mail allowances, but stopped short of making any changes for the April 5 election. Glendale voters can request a vote-by-mail ballot up to seven days before the election, but after that deadline they can fill out an application for a so-called “emergency” vote-by-mail ballot up to Election Day. California election law allows for the late ballots for people who are disabled or who cannot make it to their precinct because of “unforeseen circumstances” — a vague term that city officials said essentially makes the application impossible to deny.

CITY HALL ? Councilman Ara Najarian overtook Councilwoman Laura Friedman as the top vote-getter in the April 7 citywide election after officials counted the 2,225 provisional and late vote-by-mail ballots Friday. The newly reformed City Council certified the results Monday night. With 9,473 votes, Najarian edged Friedman by 236 votes to take the No. 1 spot, according to the city clerk?s office. Councilman Frank Quintero remained firmly in third place with 8,857 votes. While the final tally was not expected to significantly alter the precinct reporting ?

CITY HALL — The city’s election season came to an end Friday after officials counted more than 2,000 provisional and absentee ballots, showing no significant changes from the April 7 results. The race for city treasurer was the only election that could have been affected by the previously uncounted ballots, election officials said, with incumbent Ron Borucki’s lead over challenger Rafi Manoukian at only 823 votes before the final tabulations. Borucki’s lead was cut almost in half, to 446 votes when the final tally was announced, but Manoukian, a former mayor, ultimately fell short of unseating the incumbent.

ON THE AGENDA The following items will be discussed at tonight’s Crescenta Valley Town Council meeting   The Crescenta Valley Town Council plans to review a letter it wrote to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich asking for increased safety measures at crosswalks near Rosemont Middle School. The request follows the Oct. 29 death of Meri Nalbandyan, an 11-year-old who was fatally struck by a car driving through a crosswalk near Toll Middle School.

GLENDALE ? The City Council?s recent change to the process by which completed absentee ballot applications for municipal elections are returned to the city does not automatically affect the Glendale Unified School District board of education, Glendale City Atty. Scott Howard told the school board on Tuesday. But under the new ordinance, the city may compel the school district to comply with the new rule if board and council elections are combined, he said. The ordinance, which the City Council approved on Feb. 19, prohibits candidates in municipal elections, and any third-party group, from collecting the completed applications, requiring instead that they go directly to the city clerk.

GLENDALE — An ordinance preventing third parties from handling completed absentee ballot applications that passed on a contentious 3-2 City Council vote Tuesday could face renewed opposition after long-standing — and potentially new — opponents of the law consider their next moves. At the forefront of any possible coalition opposing the new ordinance would be the Armenian National Committee Glendale chapter, which during the two months leading up to Tuesday’s City Council vote had channeled opposition into a letter-writing campaign that called the measure discriminatory.

The absentee ballot application issue seems to be all about how Glendale conducts elections to city positions (“Application ordinance passes,” Wednesday). The draft ordinance said that applications must be sent directly to the Glendale City Clerk’s Office and not to the business addresses of those conducting campaigns for city positions. Proponents of the ordinance clearly did not trust the candidate campaign offices to process the voter ballot applications without reference to voter ethnicities.

CITY HALL — Opponents of an ordinance that will prevent third parties from handling completed absentee ballot applications for municipal elections lost their long-standing battle Tuesday night after the City Council voted 3-2 to codify the change. Councilmen John Drayman, Frank Quintero and Dave Weaver voted to pass the ordinance despite staunch opposition from the Armenian National Committee and other immigrant service organizations who argued it will keep limited-English speakers and seniors from getting the assistance they need to participate in what Hyung Joo Lee, a national organizer for the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, called an “intimidating and complicated experience.