By Mary O’KEEFE

There will be a Republican and Democrat on the ticket for governor of California this November. The field of 27 vying for the office included 12 whose party preference was Democrat, five Republican, two whose preference was the Green Party, one Libertarian Party, one Peace and Freedom and five who had no party preference.

California’s primary is a little different from those of other states; the top two candidates who get the most votes will face each other in the November election. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, received 33.4% of the vote and Republican John Cox received 26.2%, statewide, according to the preliminary results as of Wednesday.

Newsom won the primary with Los Angeles County voters, too, with 32.22% but the second vote getter was Antonio Villaraigosa with 22.46%. Cox came in with 20.10% of the vote in LA County.

The story though for LA County voters was the “roster printing issue.” According to a statement from the office of LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan, “A total of 1,530 precincts of the County’s 4,357 voting locations were affected in some way, with a total of 118,522 voters’ names omitted.”

“Our office is committed to ensuring every voter has a positive voting experience on Election Day,” Logan said. “We apologize for the inconvenience and concern this has caused. Voters should be assured their vote will be counted.”

The issue appeared to be a printing error.

“At this time we are still looking into it,” said Brenda Duran, spokeswoman for the LA County Registrar Office.

Voters whose names did not appear on the roster were given a provisional ballot, which is being verified and counted at the county clerk’s office in Norwalk. CVW received calls throughout the day from voters concerned about who was being left off the roster and whether their vote would count. Democrats seemed to be concerned they were being targeted while Republicans were concerned their party members were targeted. At this point, the Clerk’s Office does not have any information on how many of each party were affected. In several cases it appeared that instead of party affiliation those not on the roster had neighborhoods in common.

“We are still looking into the [error], but we did hear about [streets being left off the roster] from some locations,” Duran said.

Logan stated that his office would be calling those whose names had been omitted and who voted with a provisional ballot. Duran added their office was working yesterday on processing the provisional ballots, and will get the information to begin contacting voters soon.

“Election results will not be delayed and we are required by law to complete and certify the election within 30 days,” Duran said. “We have not gone past that time frame in the past decade and provisional ballots have always been part of our canvass for every election.”

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger also shared her concerns regarding the information left off the roster.

“It is imperative that we understand what happened and how to prevent it in the future,” Barger said. “Our elections represent the cornerstone of our democratic process, and it is unfortunate that this incident may erode public confidence in our system. A thorough and comprehensive investigation is only the first step we must take to begin rebuilding the public trust.”

In other election results: Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis, 23.4% will face Ed Hernandez, 20.8%; both are Democrats. Superintendent of Public Instruction Marshall Tuck, 37.1% will face Tony Thurmond, 34.3%; Senate Diane Feinstein, 43.8% of the votes, will run against Kevin De Leon who received 11.3%, both Democrats. U.S. House of Representatives District 28 Adam Schiff, (D) received 72.3% of the vote and will be facing Johnny Nalbandian (R) who received 22.0%.

For more information on the preliminary results, visit vote.sos.ca.gov.

  Mary Okeefe