The Secretary of State’s Voter Assistance Hot Line was deluged with calls, at a reported volume of 1,700 an hour.Secretary of State Debra Bowen says the election code could be improved to protect the rights of voters who chose not to affiliate with a particular political party. “Under California law, each political party decides whether to allow DTS voters to participate in their presidential primaries,” said Secretary Bowen, the state’s top elections officer. Counties are required to notify voters of their voting rights by mail, but not necessarily at their polling places.

“California cannot allow itself to become another Florida,” said Florez.  “It is unacceptable that we finally move our primary up to give voters in this state a say in the nominating process, and now a fifth of our voters wake up after election day wondering if they cast a vote that was even counted.” Florez wants a statewide audit of poll worker training. In his proposed legislation he also wants county registrars to print a separate primary ballot for each party, in addition to a non-partisan ballot. Non-partisan voters would then have their choice of ballots in primaries.