When California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up at his Brentwood polling station to cast his vote Tuesday, poll workers said that he had already voted.

Elections officials said a Los Angeles County poll worker had entered Schwarzenegger’s name into an electronic voting touch screen station in Pasadena on Oct. 25. The worker, who was not identified, was testing the voting machine in preparation for early voting that began the next day.

Somehow, Schwarzenegger’s name was then placed on a list of people who had already voted, said Conny B. McCormack, the Los Angeles County registrar.

Schwarzenegger’s aides were informed of the problem when they arrived this morning to survey the governor’s polling station. The poll worker told the governor’s staff he would have to use a “provisional” ballot that allows elections workers to verify if two votes were made by the same person. McCormack said the poll worker did the correct thing.

The governor, however, was allowed to use a regular ballot.

McCormack said she apologized to the governor’s staff and would investigate what happened. She said nobody actually voted for [on behalf of] Schwarzenegger in Pasadena, and the governor’s votes today will be counted. — Los Angeles Times

Oops!

You can be sure that John Q. Public wouldn’t have received such special treatment at the polls.

The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else. I hate that. — Arnold Schwarzenegger

Joe Average would have had to cast a provisional ballot, and it’s not likely it would have been counted, or that poll workers would have been nearly as quick to find the error — which they themselves made! Or that they would have even cared whether John Doe got to vote or not.