Gilroy
– Voters are ready.
Election day is here, and if recent early voting and
Monday’s
”
Get out the vote
”
rally are any indication, Gilroy could easily meet the 70 to 75
percent voter turnout expected county-wide.
Citing high interest in this year’s presidential election, as
well as the large number of contested candidate races and ballot
measures, voter turnout is expected to reach record numbers
today.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Voters are ready.
Election day is here, and if recent early voting and Monday’s “Get out the vote” rally are any indication, Gilroy could easily meet the 70 to 75 percent voter turnout expected county-wide.
Citing high interest in this year’s presidential election, as well as the large number of contested candidate races and ballot measures, voter turnout is expected to reach record numbers today.
At Gavilan College, students and members of the public heard last-minute pitches for presidential candidates and state propositions Monday at a “Get of the vote” rally, put on by the Associated Student Body to increase awareness of the election issues.
“This has kind of galvanized students,” said Domingo Payne, 31, ASB president.
Most of those in the audience, whether waving signs to support their candidate or cheering for certain speakers, said they would head to the polls today because they are highly interested in this year’s election and have been following issues closely.
“You have to keep yourself involved, because when you boil it down, it does affect you,” said Kimberly Adams, a journalism and political science student who says she’s voted in every election since turning 18.
Two other students said they were eager to cast their ballots in order to vote for John Kerry and against Proposition 66, which would change the three-strikes law.
“It’s about the war in Iraq: Who’s for and who’s against, and who wants it to continue and who doesn’t,” said Luz Gonzalez, 21, an administrative justice student. “That’s what interests me, that’s why I want to vote.”
Whatever the reasons, voters in Santa Clara County and state-wide already are looking to make their voices heard. Between 70 and 75 percent of county voters are expected to cast ballots today, according to the Registrar of Voters. That’s comparable to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley’s prediction of 73 percent turnout – or a record 12 million voters.
A record number of voters have registered in California: 16.5 million for this presidential election, compared to the previous record of 15.7 million in 2000. Shelley partly attributed that to an extension of the registration deadline that gave voters an extra two weeks to submit their registration forms.
In Gilroy, more than 20,000 residents are registered. Registrar Spokeswoman Elma Rosas said there were 19,750 registered as of last week, but that a “considerable number” have registered since. In last year’s City Council election, more than 17,000 residents were registered.
Absentee and early voters are already turning out in large numbers. About 228,000 absentee ballots were mailed out this year, and 127,000, or roughly 55 percent, had been returned as of Monday. There are 175,000 permanent absentee voters in the county, Rosas said.
Hour-long waits for early voting were reported at the Registrar of Voters Office this weekend, and lines were again reported on Monday. On Saturday, 755 voters cast their ballots early and on Sunday, another 985 did.
“Since early voting started October 4, we’ve seen a continuous flow of voters coming in, but this is the most we’ve had in terms of early voting,” Rosas said.
Four years ago this same weekend, the number of voters casting ballots was 386 on Saturday and 461 on Sunday.
“You can see this is more than twice as many,” she said. “This is a record-breaker.”
Absentee voters with any problems with their ballots can fill out a provisional ballot at their polling place today.
A Gavilan student Monday said she’d already voted absentee, but was interested in hearing what speakers had to say about the presidential candidates and Propositions 66, 68 and 70. But she echoed growing concern that voting snafus could affect or delay the outcome of today’s election.
“We don’t know who’s going to be the better (president), because it’s been back and forth,” said Sarah Wirz, 21, a liberal studies student, of conversations with her friends. “And we don’t know who’s going to win, and we’re very concerned about that.”
Voters across the state are not very confident that electronic voting systems will count their ballots properly, according to a Field Poll released Monday. One in three California voters are not confident in the integrity of the new electronic voting process, and 18 percent aren’t confident that the person declared the winner will actually have won fairly.
Touch-screen voting machines used in this state do not produce a printed record for the voters who use them. By state law, though, all voting machines will be required to print records starting in 2006.
As voters geared up Monday, the only local election – for Gilroy Unified School District’s Board of Trustees – heated up as one of the district’s employee unions came forward with more endorsements.
Last week, GUSD’s three employee unions said that of the six candidates – incumbents John Gurich, Bob Kraemer and Jaime Rosso, and challengers Rhoda Bress, Robert Heisey and Pat Midtgaard – they only could agree to endorse Gurich.
The presidents of two of the unions, the Gilroy Teachers Association and California School Employees Association, came to a consensus and in a letter to the editor of The Gilroy Dispatch, endorsed Bress and Midtgaard, as well.
After several weeks of reports of damaged political signs, the vandalism continued this weekend. This time, it was the Republican headquarters on First Street that was targeted. Vandals egged the windows in the front of the building sometime Sunday night.
As voters head out to their polling places, the polls should be ready for them, too. Rosas said touch-screen voting machines were delivered to Gilroy precincts last week. Today is expected to be sunny and about 71 degrees.
Rosas reminds voters to locate their correct polling place on their sample ballot, and to make selections before going to the polls to save time and prevent any confusion.
Registered voters who, for some reason, are not on the list at their appropriate polling place may still cast a provisional ballot, she said.
Polls will open at 7am today and close at 8pm.
Voting numbers
– 20,000+ registered voters in Gilroy
– 881,000+ Registered voters in county
– 70% – 75% expected voter turnout in county
– 227,971 absentee ballots issued in county
– 55% absentee ballots returned back (as of Monday)
– 174,000 permanent absentee ballots in county
