POLITICAL NOTEBOOK:Absentee voters led to early forums

With six down and only one to go, the City Council Candidates Forum season is winding down.

Five forums, including one hosted by Cox Cable that has yet to be aired, have been held since Oct. 1. The first was held on Sept. 11; the last is scheduled for the 16th.

Candidates say the cluster is the result of the increasing number of absentee ballots, on which voters make their choices well in advance of Election Day, Nov. 7.

In the most recent election, 3,074 of the 5,631 voters cast absentee ballots, 54.7 percent. Of course, that election did not include city offices. A higher percentage of the city’s 17,819 registered voters is expected to turn out in November.

In the 2004 municipal election, 14,522 of the city’s 18,647 registered voters cast ballots, 715 in the early voting program and 5,125 of them by absentee ballots.

By all estimates, absentee ballots will play a prominent role in the upcoming election “” hence the early forums. Expect to see mailers in the next few weeks.

Congressional candidate in area

Steve Young, Democratic candidate for the 48th District Congressional seat, will appear at a coffee klatch from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the home of Ed and Jeannette Merrilees, 150 McKnight Dr., and also at the Laguna Beach Peace Vigil, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Main Beach.

Young is seeking to unseat Rep. John Campbell. Information: (949) 640-4400 or steveyoung@steveyoung forcongress.com

Gay voter drive in Laguna

Woodys at the Beach will sponsor a gay voter-registration drive this weekend at the restaurant, 1305 So. Coast Highway. The drive will begin Friday and run through Sunday.

“It is so important that the gay community in Laguna Beach and our many friends all be registered to vote. We are going through so many political battles in our emerging civil rights campaign that each and every gay person should exercise his and her Constitutional right and vote,” Joel Herzer, Woody’s managing partner, said.

“This is the first gay voter registration drive in Laguna’s history,” claimed Fred Karger, founder of SAVE the BOOM, which lobbied this year against closure of the landmark gay bar the Boom Boom Room.

The voter registration drive will continue through Oct. 23, which is the cutoff for registering for this year’s general election.

Information: www.savetheboom.com.

COUNCIL CANDIDATE FORUMS

Information of general interest about the election or about forums may be mailed to the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, 92652; faxed to (949) 494-8979; or e-mailed to [email protected].