LOS ANGELES — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was surprised at his polling station Tuesday morning with the news that he had already voted in California's special election.

Even though he hadn't.

When Schwarzenegger arrived at his polling place in Brentwood, he was told he would have to submit a provisional ballot. But a quick call to the Los Angeles County Registar-Recorder Office confirmed that he had not voted previously, and he was allowed to vote by normal ballot, said Kristin Heffron, chief deputy for the office.

The problem originated Oct. 25, when officials at early voting sites across the county were asked to enter sample names into voting computers to make sure they were connected to the main election office in Norwalk.

The testers were given several names to enter into the computers, including the names of administrators in the office, said Heffron, one of the officials whose names were used.

Schwarzenegger was not one of the sample names, but someone at a Pasadena location entered it anyway, perhaps in an attempt at whimsy, Heffron said. The testers were supposed to cancel the transactions once the tests were complete, but whoever entered Schwarzenegger's name did not, making it appear initially that he had voted.

"I can't answer why they used Schwarzenegger's name," Heffron said.

Chuck Bell, an attorney for Schwarzenegger, said the governor successfully voted and "we're satisfied with that."

Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the incident was troubling.

The group opposes paperless electronic voter machines because they don't leave a paper trail, making situations like Schwarzenegger's difficult to resolve. The incident could also discourage other voters, she said.

"If there's uncertainty about whether the governor's ballot is going to be counted, it may lead other voters to wonder if their own ballots will be counted," she said.

Alexander also questioned whether another voter would have received the attention Schwarzenegger did, including a call from a poll worker to the main election office.

Heffron said other voters in the same situation would have received the same treatment, but that no poll workers had called about other voters in a similar situation.

The governor's problem was one of several concerns about voting in Los Angeles County.

Los Angeles officials expected a high number of provisional ballots to be cast because many voters received absentee ballots but then tried to vote in person, Heffron said.

She said voters who received absentee ballots were required to cast provisional ballots — which must be confirmed — to ensure that they didn't vote twice.

Many voters who cast ballots at early voting stations had to do so with provisional ballots because they had also received absentee ballots, Heffron said.

Also, about 50 percent of voters were supposed to vote in a different polling place than they did last year because of consolidated locations, Heffron said.

Statewide, things seemed to be going more smoothly.

Secretary of state spokeswoman Nghia Nguyen said the office had received a low number of calls from people trying to locate their polling places. A power outage at one site in Sacramento County did not cause any delay because there was a backup power source, she said.