Registrar offers early voting for primary

The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ Office will offer early voting for Tuesday’s presidential primary election 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Office of the Registrar of Voters, 1555 Berger Drive, Building 2, San Jose.

The office is expanding its hours to accommodate voters who cannot go to the polls on Election Day or would prefer the convenience or accessibility of casting their ballots on the weekend.

Polling places and the Registrar’s Office will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

For more information, visit www.sccvote.org or call (866) 430-8683.

GOP groups pick candidates

Two local Republican Party groups ran straw polls to estimate the relative strength of the candidates running in Tuesday’s California Presidential Primary.

The South Peninsula Area Republican Coalition (SPARC) members tally had Rudolph Giuliani in the lead at 37 percent, followed by Mitt Romney and John McCain, at 29 and 28 percent, respectively.

At the Palo Alto Republican Women’s Federation monthly luncheon, Romney took the lead with 46 percent, followed by Giuliani.

Election costs tallied

The Nov. 5 Los Altos City Council election cost the city $210,234, reflecting an increase in the cost of printing election materials in multiple languages. The council, citing a desire to reduce expenses, last spring considered rescheduling city elections to align with regional and national elections, held in even years. The move would have temporarily extended the seated council members’ terms and skipped the 2007 election. In the face of residents’ objections, the council tabled the notion.