Leaders of Hollywood Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, or VOTE, thought they already had more than the required 19,660 valid signatures needed to launch a state-mandated secession feasibility study. But on Friday, LA County election officials told the group they were 2,604 signatures short--largely because many people signed their petitions more than once.

"We're going door-to-door again in every neighborhood, and our signature-gatherers will be at every supermarket in the area," says Gene La Pietra, founder of Hollywood VOTE. "We're confident that we'll be able to get the signatures we need."

Hollywood is one of three large communities trying to split away from Los Angeles, saying that LA is too big for a single city council to govern effectively. Similar secession movements are under way in the sprawling San Fernando Valley to the north and the Harbor area around San Pedro, in the county's southwestern end.