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Thousands sign up to vote in California recall election

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California's historic gubernatorial recall has energized thousands of people to register to vote, elections officials said after a final wave of signups that included 7,000 registrations in Los Angeles County over a seven-hour span.

"I'd say there is a great deal of interest," said Kristin Heffron, the county's chief deputy registrar, adding that about 115,000 county residents have registered in the past six weeks.

Across the state, elections officials reported similar surges after Monday's deadline to register for the Oct. 7 recall election. All attributed the increases to the excitement and heavy media coverage surrounding the election.

In San Diego County, 1,400 people registered on the last day, and more than 77,000 have registered since July.

The California Secretary of State's Office said new registration numbers will be released shortly after counties report their tallies Oct. 1.

As of Aug. 8, the last official tally, California had 14,995,501 registered voters.

- Last week a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that there was a real danger of minority voters in six California counties being disenfranchised because their votes might not be counted using punch card technology. Those three judges, said to be among the circuit's most liberal, were all appointed by Democrats. They were Harry Pregerson, Sidney R. Thomas and Richard A. Paez. The panel stayed its own decision for a week to give opponents time to appeal.

- There was an appeal and a majority of the 26 active judges on the appeals court voted to have the case reheard by a larger "en banc" panel.

- The selection of en banc panels is generally based on a random draw, although under court rules if a judge's name is not drawn on any three successive review courts, the judge automatically is placed on the next court.

- Eight of the 11 judges on the en banc panel were appointed by Democrats, seven of them by former President Bill Clinton. Two were appointed by former President Ronald Reagan and one by former President George H.W. Bush. The chief judge, Mary M. Schroeder, was appointed by former President Jimmy Carter.

- Sources: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Copley News Service.