Voters cry foul over absent B

Measure B was missing from the Super Tuesday ballot in newly annexed West Santa Ana Heights.

Some voters say they were surprised to learn they would not get a chance to vote on the measure, but election officials said Newport Beach did not annex the 83-acre area in time for the measure to be included on the ballot there.

“We should have a voice in that as well. Now what does that do to the election? Does that skew the election? I don’t know,” said West Santa Ana Heights resident Gary De Vine, who said he called the Orange County Registrar of Voters to complain.

Volunteer poll worker Bonnie Atlas, at Back Bay High School, 390 Monte Vista Ave., said several voters complained Tuesday about not being able to vote on the measure, aimed at amending the city charter to require the next Newport Beach city hall to be built on a piece of city-owned land next to the central library on Avocado Avenue. West Santa Ana Heights has 792 registered voters, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

The omission of Measure B from West Santa Ana Heights ballots was legal, said Brett Rowley, a spokesman for the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

“There’s nothing wrong with the ballot,” Rowley said. “We’ve proofed this thing and translated it four times.”

To be included in the vote, a neighborhood has to be annexed at least 88 days before an election, Rowley said.

West Santa Ana Heights officially joined the city Jan. 1, five years after Newport Beach annexed the eastern side of the neighborhood. The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission voted in July to approve annexation.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected]. BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].