Valley voters surprise officials

Many can't recall lines ahead of Election Day.

Published online on Wednesday, Nov. 05, 2008

The line stretching around the corner outside the Fresno County Elections Office on Monday confirmed what Victor Salazar already suspected: Today's election is taking on historic proportions.

"What's happening today is very out of the ordinary," said Salazar, who is Fresno County's clerk and elections chief. "Typically, there's a lull before the storm, but today isn't the case."

In counties across the central San Joaquin Valley -- and the state, as well -- elections officials were marveling at the high level of voter interest ahead of today's presidential election. Around the Valley, voters also will consider choices for Congress and state Assembly, 12 state propositions, city councils, school boards and special districts, a Fresno County library tax and in Fresno, a new mayor for the first time in eight years.

Normally on Mondays before an election, Salazar's staff is busy verifying absentee ballots. But because so many voters were arriving, the staff was diverted to assist them. That means the count of absentee ballots will take longer to complete.

Officials in Tulare and Kings counties also were seeing election-eve lines for the first time in memory, and in Madera County, there was a constant stream of voters.

"We're kind of Sleepy Hollow here, but we've had people in and out all day," said Ed Rose, Kings County's elections manager.

There are many important issues and races to be decided, but voters Monday singled out two: the race between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama and Proposition 8, the state ballot initiative that would outlaw same-sex marriages.

"I got more motivated this time about the election," said Marlin Embers, who admitted to not being a regular voter. "[Obama] brought me out."

As election officials scrambled to deal with the unexpected surge in voters, there was an equally frantic push to make sure voters get to the polls today.

At Fresno County Republican Party headquarters, volunteers worked the phones not only for McCain, but also for Ashley Swearengin, who is running against Henry T. Perea to be Fresno's next mayor, and Danny Gilmore, who is facing Fran Florez in a battle to replace Assembly Member Nicole Parra in the 30th Assembly District.

Obama supporters were also busy Monday. At his Shaw Avenue local campaign office, volunteers were answering last-minute questions and selling merchandise, while in the rear of a downtown Fresno law office, people worked the phones for Obama.

Every effort was focused on making sure registered voters from each party cast ballots. For those who don't by 5 p.m. today, there will be another round of calls to encourage them to get to the polls before they close at 8.

Volunteers will be at each precinct with a voter list, checking off those who have cast ballots. (Precinct voting rolls are public information.) Those who don't will get the calls.

The last-minute campaigning wasn't limited to phone calls. Outside the Fresno County Elections Office, Perea supporters including his father, county Supervisor Henry R. Perea, held up signs supporting their candidate. They made certain to stand the required 100 feet from the polling site.

Supporters of Measure L were working hard, too. The Fresno County measure would increase the library sales tax from an eighth of a cent to a quarter-cent for 16 years, starting in 2009. It requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

The ballot measure has almost been lost among high-profile races and ballot initiatives, but that hasn't stopped supporters from spending more than $60,000 to get the word out.

Still, Measure L campaign chairwoman Deborah Ikeda said "we have no clue" whether the measure will pass.

"The vast majority we talk to on phone banking know about it and are going to support it, so we're optimistically hopeful," she said.

Measure L supporters have been walking precincts and calling voters, and plan a get-out-the-vote effort today.

"We're a low-funded campaign when you compare us to all the others," Ikeda said. "We're kind of a stealth campaign."

The combination of a fat ballot and weighty issues like Measure L was why Embers and his wife, Crystal, took their lunch hour Monday to study up.

Then they decided to vote to avoid lines they were sure will be found at polling stations today. What they found was a line stretching outside the Fresno County Elections Office, down Kern Street and around the corner onto L Street.

It amazed Salazar and other elections officials with more than two decades of experience who have never seen lines ahead of Election Day. They recalled Election Day lines maybe a half-dozen deep, not the two- to three-dozen waiting at times Monday.

About 50 people were lined up in front of the elections office at 8 a.m., so Salazar decided to open a half-hour early to accommodate them.