First-time voters in Fresno, region, pack polling places for midterm election

Even after sundown, people registering to vote at the last minute — and returning voters waiting to cast their ballot — stood in lines at Fresno County’s Registrar of Voters Office on Tuesday.

Rhoben Burnes, 51, who works for the Internal Revenue Service, and relocated to Fresno in July, was among them.

Burnes believed the midterm elections are “very important,” saying it was even worth being late to work in order to register. She had called her manager to inform her she was going to be late.

Burnes, like some, said she was also motivated by the belief President Donald Trump is dividing the nation and is “against what our country stands for.”

“We can turn some things around if we get out and vote,” she said. “We need unity in this world, in this country. I just want to see us all come together. This is the land of the free.”

Although the official deadline for registration was Oct. 22, California allows for conditional voting up until Election Day — a feature voters like Burnes took advantage of Tuesday.

Brandi Orth, Fresno County’s registrar of voters, said her office on Monday had registered 120 people who then voted. That number was expected to at least double Tuesday.

Some first-time voters like Bianca Medina, 21, a nursing student at Fresno State, and Jonathan Martinez, 21, a business student at Fresno State, simply put off registering to vote. Still, they decided to show up Tuesday and make their choices count.

“I just feel like I’ve become a little bit more informed,” Medina said, adding she didn’t “make time” to register to vote before.

Martinez said he felt “guilty” Tuesday because others were voting. “I didn’t vote in the last elections so I kinda felt bad about it,” he said.

While some stood in lines in Fresno, others sat on concrete planters filling out voter registration forms. Among them was James Alba, 25, also a first-time voter.

Alba, 25, a Fresno City College nursing student, said he hadn’t taken voting seriously before. “I figure I’m a citizen, and a teacher suggested we vote,” he said.

Before voting, he was cramming to learn about the propositions on the ballot. “They say every vote counts, so I’m going to put my vote into it,” he said.

The Fresno County Registrar of Voters Office wasn’t the only office busy with many people who showed up to register Tuesday.

Rebecca Martinez, Madera County’s registrar of voters, said as of 6 p.m. her office was still busy registering voters.

The number of people who registered and voted on Election Day in Madera County was significantly higher than the number who registered to vote on the same day for the June primary, she said.

Michelle Baldwin, Tulare County’s registrar of voters, said her office had also been busy all day with people coming in to register.

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 6:40 PM.