Different time zones upset U.S. voting

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 30

Different time zones upset U.S. voting

. San Francisco When it is 8 p.m. on the American East Coast, it is 5 p.m. in San Francisco and 3 p.m. in Hawaii. During Presidential elections westerners fret about that. The wide span of time zones in the United States means that the national choice can already have been made by the hour that citizens on this side of the continent find time at the end of the usual work day to go to the polls. The result is that many just don’t bother: “Why vote, when the contest is over?” Proposals to close the voting simultaneously in all 50 states have never won national support. . This year may be different. Many commentators and campaign officials are saying that the United States may not know whether George Bush or Michael Dukakis is President-elect, until California’s big bloc of electoral votes is assured. Public-opinion surveys are saying that neither man can win without taking California, and that each has a chance of doing so. California is nominally Democratic and elects a majority of Democrats to state office, but has a

Republican governor and has, since 1964, given majorities to Republican choices for the Presidency. Democratic hopes are high here this year, and among those whose hopes are most fervent is the New Zealand-born lieu-tenant-governor, Leo McCarthy. Mr McCarthy is lagging well behind the Republican incumbent in the race to occupy one of California’s two seats in the United States Senate, but a strong Dukakis victory in November might change that. The few and unexciting duties of a lieutenant-gov-ernor are performed in the deep shadow of the chief executive of the state. But Mr McCarthy, titular leader of California’s Democrats, is suddenly more visible to the voters. It was California’s delegation whose vote at the recent national convention put Mr Dukakis over the top, and it was Mr McCarthy, chairman of the delegation, who was seen on every national television newscast making the triumphant announcement. He and Mr Dukakis need each other, and their friendship is ripening fast.