John Dunne of Los Angeles was told Tuesday -- wrongly -- he couldn't vote because the voting inspector was in jail, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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Dunne, 29, told the newspaper he went to the MacArthur Park Community Center about 7:30 a.m. He found no voting booths or election equipment, just a lone woman at a table. When he asked the poll worker where he could vote, she told him the inspector was arrested and in jail, the Times reported, and suggested he try coming back around 6 p.m.

A furious Dunne went to another polling place and cast a provisional ballot. "It's ridiculous," he said by phone with the Times. "They're just completely disenfranchising a whole voting district."

The newspaper said a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder, Eileen Shea, confirmed the poll worker had been telling early voters what she heard, that the inspector had been arrested -- but in reality, Shea said, the inspector had called in sick and asked someone to go by her house to pick up the roster and ballots.

"Honestly, I'm dumbfounded," Shea said. A coordinator was sent to the polling place to speak with the worker and straighten her out, the Times reported.