GILROY
– Gilroy voters eager to make their voices heard in today’s
historic recall election must cast their votes before 8 p.m. Voter
turnout statewide is expected to be higher today than for recent
elections – perhaps due to the national attention the recall has
received for months.
Poll workers report increased interest in highly charged race
By PETER CROWLEY AND LORI STUENKEL
Staff Writers
GILROY – Gilroy voters eager to make their voices heard in today’s historic recall election must cast their votes before 8 p.m. Voter turnout statewide is expected to be higher today than for recent elections – perhaps due to the national attention the recall has received for months.
There were 10 people waiting at 7 a.m. when the door opened to the polling center in the El Roble Elementary School library, according to poll volunteer and former City Councilmember Connie Rogers.
“It’s starting heavier and earlier than usual,” Rogers said, as seven people lined up to vote at 7:15 a.m. “I’ve worked this polling place for years, and I don’t ever remember 10 people lined up outside the door.”
Most of those asked at El Roble today declined to share how they were voting. Chris Hyland, however, said he would vote against the recall and for Peter Camejo, of the Green Party.
Voters’ emotions are high this time around, Rogers opined, and candidates’ “grandstand(ing)” and “mudslinging” in recent weeks are evidence that they’re playing to these feelings.
“It’s ironic, because you want people to vote for a rational reason instead of an emotional one, but on the other hand, it’s the emotions that get people out and voting.”
More than 600 official polling places will be open in Santa Clara County today. There are 624 precincts in the county, but some polling places overlap, said Elma Rosas, a spokesperson for the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.
Voters heading to the polls should be aware that their voting location might have changed since the last election.
“We really encourage our voters to look at their sample ballot and look at the address of their polling place,” Rosas said. “That’s the key thing.”
Santa Clara voters will still be using the punch-card ballots, as will voters in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Solano and Mendocino counties. Touch-screen voting will make its debut here during November’s election.
Anticipating more voters, the county has added polling locations in Gilroy. Unlike the elementary school, some polling places are experiencing their first election today.
The Kemetic Institute Cultural Center & Museum is one of these, and founder Octavia Butler is making up her own rules. As voters walk through the historic 7469 Forest St. house’s ornamental grounds to punch their cards, they are warmly welcomed by volunteers, offered coffee and fed well – yes, fed.
Since voters may be hungry, the Institute is serving them meals today: chorizo and eggs for breakfast, ham sandwiches for lunch and lasagna for dinner. Butler said she thought it would be something nice and different for voters.
Hearing that the high turnout might stretch the county’s resources, “I called up the county and asked if I could help,” Butler said. “What they said was, they needed a voting polling place.”
Butler also volunteered the Kemetic Institute as a base for poll workers standing by at the end of the day to see where they’re needed next.
At 7:35 a.m., the sixth voter arrived at the Kemetic Institute, which Butler thought was a decent turnout for a new location that early in the morning.
Staffers at other Gilroy polling locations are more accustomed to the election routine.
The recall is just another election for Cindi Heath, who is working the polling place in her residence at 9274 Calle Del Rey.
“We keep a lot of humor because it’s a long day,” she said.
Heath and three other staff members began working before 7 a.m. and will stay until after 8 p.m.
Heath first used her home as a polling place about five years ago when population growth necessitated another location in northwest Gilroy. She enjoys hosting voters.
“We like to greet people,” she said. “Most people are excited to be here. And we like to joke about Florida.”
As of 7:30 a.m., 27 people had cast their ballots. That is about 3 percent of the 900 registered voters in the precinct and not an unusual number for early in the day, Heath said.
Voters who showed up at the Heath residence early this morning wanted to take advantage of the poll’s early hours before going to work.
Jannell Neyhart commutes to San Jose, where she works until late in the evening. She turns out for most elections and the recall is no exception, she said.
“Mainly I want to vote because it affects us here strictly in California,” Neyhart said.
Voting in every election is a priority for Irene Aguilar as well, who cast her vote before heading to work in San Martin.
“I just think it’s important to vote because you need to have your voice out there,” Aguilar said.
As voter turnout is expected to be high today, a record-breaking 140,000-plus absentee ballots were issued by the county registrar for the recall election, Rosas said.
“That surpasses the (139,326) that we had in the presidential November 2000 election,” Rosas said. It also surpasses the 112,905 issued during the previous record-setting gubernatorial election in 1998.
The county has received more than 93,000 absentee ballots so far, which Rosas called “a high percentage.” Ideally, the registrar would receive all absentee ballots before election day.
“We obviously want to get back as many as we can right away,” she said.
Absentee ballots can be turned in to any polling place today, but can no longer be mailed in. The collected absentee ballots that have already passed signature verification will be tabulated after the polls close tonight, while counting of the absentee ballots collected today will likely start Friday after signatures are verified tomorrow and Thursday.
The total cost of the election was predicted to be between $3 and $5 million. To date, $2.7 million has been spent on the recall and staff at each polling place have yet to be paid for their work or training, Rosas said. The county’s polling places are all fully staffed with four to five people each.
“We knew we were probably going to be closer to that $5-million mark,” Rosas said. The estimate was based on the cost of a regular election.
To find your correct voting place, log on to the registrar of voter’s Web site at: www.sccvote.org.
