California draws to determine order of recall ballot

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In a display that looked more like a Las Vegas Keno game, election officials held a lottery-style drawing Monday to determine where the nearly 200 candidates seeking to replace Gov. Gray Davis will appear on the Oct. 7 recall ballot.

Under the spotlight of television cameras carrying the event live, officials put printed letters into film canisters, then placed the canisters into a gold steel-mesh barrel before pulling the numbers out one by one.

The drawing is done every election to help erase the estimated 5 percent advantage a candidate gets from being at the top of the ballot, said Secretary of State Kevin Shelley. "We do it prior to every election," he said. "No one ever comes."

195 names

But this election is no ordinary election. Officials say 195 people have submitted papers to run as a replacement to Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, whose approval ratings have fallen to record lows amid a $38 billion budget deficit and voter wrath over the state's energy crisis.

If the recall campaign succeeds, Davis would be only the nation's second governor to be recalled; the other was North Dakota's Lynn Frazier, ousted in 1921.

The precise order on the recall ballot will not be known until late Wednesday when Shelley certifies how many of the candidates will make the official ballot. Shelley said the office has qualified 96 candidates so far.

Under the system, names will be rotated on 80 different ballots in each of the state's Assembly districts. Candidates who start near the top in ballots used in northern California will shift to the bottom in southern California.

Based on the order of letters drawn Monday, some high-profile candidates, commentator Arianna Huffington, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be relatively near each other on most ballots.

Counting delays possible

The long list of candidates could cause delays in vote counting and boost election costs, already estimated at up to $66 million. In addition, many counties will still be using the punch-card voting machines that California banned after the Florida recount debacle.

Such a large ballot means higher costs for the special election. In Contra Costa County, elections officials said the long candidate list could raise ballot costs by $750,000 over the county's earlier estimate of $1.6 million.

Shelley said he plans to ask the legislature for help.

Elections officials also are concerned that several major counties are bringing back punch-card ballots retired earlier this year. Punch cards, being used in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and San Bernardino Counties, are rife with reminders of hanging and pregnant chads from the 2000 presidential election in Florida.

Sonoma County Clerk Eeve Lewis said the long list of names will add at least two more ballot cards for voters to contend with and hours more election night work for her employees.

"We'll have to manually count for overvotes," she said, referring to confused voters who mark more than one candidate.

Davis said in an interview broadcast Monday that the effort to recall him was an insult to those who voted last year.

"I don't like this but I am trying to suppress those negative feelings and channel my energies into doing something positive for the people I work for, the people of this great state," Davis said on NBC's "Today" show.

In New York, Schwarzenegger appeared at a gathering related to his effort to foster after-school programs, joking to the crowd that the large number of journalists present were "all there for you." Schwarzenegger, who has avoided detailed interviews in California since launching his bid, did not take questions after his remarks.

Other candidates include former child actor Gary Coleman, melon-smashing comedian Gallagher and smut peddler Larry Flynt.