Gilroy’s absentee registration rate high; statewide turnout
numbers terrible
Gilroy – Unenthused voters dutifully headed to the polls Tuesday, expressing little excitement about candidates or issues as they fulfilled their civic duty.
As few as one in three registered voters was expected to cast ballots, according to an estimate by the Field Poll. The predicted 34 percent turnout would be the lowest turnout since the organization began making predictions in 1946. By mid-evening, poll workers throughout Gilroy said less than a quarter of registered voters had cast ballots.
Brad Bannister felt it was his civic duty to vote, but said he wasn’t overly excited about Tuesday’s elections as he walked out of the polls at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, off Hecker Pass Highway.
“You’re dealing with a primary,” he said. “It’s never as exciting as when you come out in November.”
Other voters had a patriotic reason for voting in the primaries: It was their right and duty as American citizens.
Joyce Croul, 68, said she was a seventh-generation American whose roots date back to the revolutionary war. She said family members died for this country and so it was her duty to vote in every election possible.
“There should be more people voting. If they don’t vote then people are just shooting themselves in the foot,” said the self-described “extreme conservative” sporting an “I voted” sticker on her blouse.
But even with the small turnout, some of the workers said that the trend of absentee voting has hit a new high.
“I was quite surprised to see so many absentee ballots,” said Elisa Martinez, a poll worker stationed at Gilroy High School. “This is more than I’ve ever seen.”
According to Matt Morales, spokesman for the Registrar of Voters, 5,229 of Gilroy’s 16,906 registered voters signed up for absentee balloting. These numbers are up slightly from the November 2005 election. Of those registered absentee in 2005, 3,680 actually sent in their ballots. The number of absentee voters for this election was not known by press time.
Although registering for absentee balloting has slowly risen in the past few years, there are those who still choose to show up at polling places.
“My take on it is, wars have been fought for this right,” said Noslem Vidal, who was out with his wife Shaeilay and son Nigel.
The Vidals are registered democrats and voted for Phil Angelides to represent the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor.
“Hopefully, he’ll make a better change,” Shaeilay Vidal said. “He’s been talking so much about education. Let’s see what he does.”
There were some voters who almost chose stay home.
“I always vote. No matter what. But I almost didn’t this time'” said Todd Jackson. “(The candidates) are more interested in trashing their opponents than getting anything done.”
Even with all the talk and commercials for the governor’s seat that lead up to the election, many people mentioned Propositions 81 and 82 as votes they cared most about.
“I’m a teacher here … and I value education. As an educator, it would be hard to go against it,” said Joy Dvorak, about Proposition 82, which would tax people who make an income over $400,000 yearly to open publicly funded preschools.
Hope Murphy, who voted ‘yes’ on Proposition 82 also voted ‘yes’ on Proposition 81, which would give local agencies money to help renovate and construct libraries throughout the state.
“My niece works at the library and my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren have all gone to libraries. I would hate to see any library close,” Murphy said.
There were those voters, however, who did not support either of the propositions for various reasons.
“The propositions that you vote for have hidden agendas behind them,” said Theresa Monsour, outside a home on Dartmouth Place where booths were placed in her neighbors garage. Theresa and her husband Rick both said they make sure to research the issues before they head to the polls. That way they are able to vote on almost everything and are then given the right later to complain.
Richard Hoenck felt the same. He had booths set up in his garage for neighbors so they did not have to make a longer trip.
“If a person don’t vote, to be quite frank, a person doesn’t have a right to bitch,” he said.
