Massive changes in California voting spark primary fears

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With just days to go, at least one California official is anticipating the March 3rd Democratic primary with sleepless nights.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NEAL KELLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS, SAYING:

"Elections are so dynamic and have so many moving parts, there's a lot that could go wrong. I would be foolhardy to tell you that's not the case."

Neal Kelley has good reason to be worried. Kelley is the elections chief for Orange County, part of a wave of California counties rolling out sweeping new balloting procedures affecting millions of voters in the nation’s most populous state.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NEAL KELLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS, SAYING:

"Complete overhaul, starting from top to bottom."

Memories of the chaos created largely by a new app in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses on Feb. 3 have election officials nationwide looking to avoid similar embarrassment.

In California, some counties are unveiling their own new voting technology. They’re also eliminating thousands of polling places in the hopes that voters will make use of expanded mail-in balloting or take advantage of extended early in-person voting.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NEAL KELLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS, SAYING:

"So instead of neighborhood polling places, now you have this large customer service center where you can go and cast your ballot in any location. So you're not tied to your home precinct anymore."

In L.A. and Orange counties, the new machines won't be counting votes, but instead print out a paper ballot to be counted.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NEAL KELLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS, SAYING:

"So the entire thing from start to finish - vote by mail, in person voting - is all paper-based."

Despite the yet-to-be-proven overhaul, Kelley is confident in a smooth primary.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NEAL KELLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS, SAYING:

"It's just preparing, having redundancies, and being able to respond."

And the stakes are high. With 415 delegates up for grabs - the largest haul in the country, accounting for more than 20% of the delegates a candidate must win to secure the Democratic nomination - California has considerable influence.

But perhaps the largest change - four years ago, California's primary was held in June. This year's March primary gives the Golden State even more political sway...

Meaning a California-sized screw-up would dwarf the dysfunction in Iowa.