Election updates: Fresno County voters waiting in line as polls close; turnout brisk all day

Polls in California closed at 8 p.m. but voters in line at that hour were allowed to vote.

The Reedley Community Center was experiencing a roughly 38-40 minute wait time just an hour before polls were set to close, according to elections observers positioned there.

Amparo Cid, attorney with Cid and Macedo, which is a firm that has deployed volunteer observers in conjunction with the ACLU of Northern California, said the firm was keeping an eye on the Reedley lines.

There were about 50 people in line as of 7 p.m.

Cid expressed that all voters should stay in line regardless of the 8 p.m. closing time.

Another long line was spotted in the city of Dinuba in Tulare County.

“As long as they’re in line, they are legally allowed to vote,” Cid said.

As of 7:10 p.m., Cid said voting was steady elsewhere in Fresno and Tulare counties. Earlier in the day, poll volunteers reported cranes being used in Selma to raise campaign signs but poll workers had addressed the issue.

Elections officials have not yet provided data on the day’s voting turnout in Fresno County, but Cid said her volunteers have seen a steady stream since Saturday with no major issues reported.

Small hiccups included printers being down in Parlier but poll workers used touch screens to get voters through. Poll workers in Firebaugh also investigated a smell of a gas leak.

Some locations also provided COVID-19 screening. Although, there were no reports it interfered with voting, Cid said.

Line grows at Hoover High in central Fresno

Just over two hours before polls were scheduled to close in California, the Hoover High School voting center had a line of about 50 people to cast ballots.

The parking lot off of First Street was buzzing with cars coming in and out as of 5:30 p.m.

Mary Saldaña, 60, showed up to vote with her family of three and said she was mostly moved to vote in the presidential race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. She voted Democrat.

But Saldaña said she also came ready to vote for propositions. She had jotted down notes on her phone about props such as the Prop. 23 dealing with dialysis treatment.

Voters at Hoover High also got a streamlined voting process, according to Saldaña. She said that inside she saw distancing and proper face masks worn, as well as cleaning by poll workers.

Making sure their votes are counted

On the final day of voting, about a dozen people were actively casting their ballots around 3:45 p.m Tuesday at the Clovis Sierra Vista Mall.

And just two more people were in line at the time.

The mall itself appeared mostly empty inside and out with slow foot and vehicle traffic.

A poll worker guided voters into the community room where the voting booths were located.

At 4:19 p.m., about five people walked out of the Clovis Community College polling site in building AC1.

Voting there was not hard for Poornima Vishwanath, 52, of Clovis.

“I literally walked in and walked right out,” she said after stepping out of the building.

Vishwanath said she came to vote mainly for the propositions since she is a small business owner. As an independent, she said her main concerns are the economy and social justice.

She has been a voter for 30 years.

Some voters who showed up at Clovis Community College also came to drop off their ballots in person into purple bins next to poll workers.

One voter who switched from Democrat to Republican in 2016 and declined to share his name told The Bee he was concerned his vote wouldn’t get counted unless he personally witnessed it. He dropped off three ballots.

Outside the voting center, two women shouted to voters as they arrived and asked them if they’d like to sign a petition to recall the governor.

Workers required any non-voting members of the public to stand at least 100 feet away from the door per state law.

Early turnout

Early voter turnout has been record-breaking in Fresno County with about 50% of ballots already returned. The Fresno County Registrar of Voters Office tallied 236,249 ballots returned through the morning of Election Day.

Madera County’s all-mail ballots can go to one of five drop boxes or seven voting centers. There was a significant line at the registrar’s office before polls opened at 7 a.m. on Election Day but the lines have subsided, according to Rebecca Martinez, the registrar of voters.

She said voters should do what they can to get their ballots marked and dropped off before people get off of work at 5 p.m.

“I think at 5 o’clock we’ll see more voters and we’ll have long lines,” she said.

About 57% of ballots from the 67,743 registered voters in Madera County had been returned through Monday, Martinez said.

For Madera voters who don’t want to have to leave their car after about 5 p.m., Martinez said, drive-thru drop-offs should be ready at City Hall or at the Registrar of Voters Office.

A mobile voting center outside the registrar’s office on W. Fourth Street was opened earlier than expected, and under use by about 2:30 p.m., Martinez said.

Results for the county will be available at votemadera.com, where a webcam will also broadcast poll workers processing ballots.

Voting early on the final day

Around 20 people were in line outside the Fresno County election office just before polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Alex Vargas brought lawn chairs and had been waiting since 6:15 a.m.

The Clovis resident came decked out in red with a red, white and blue bandanna around his neck. He was the first in line at the office and said he was voting out of a sense of duty.

“It’s your constitutional duty to come out and vote,” Vargas said.

Fresno resident Joaquin Pacheco was also one of the first to vote at the county elections office Tuesday morning. He’s a Reagan Republican who has been voting since 1978 and said it was important that he vote in person because he wanted to listen to the arguments on both sides until the very last day.

Then he sleeps on it.

This election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden is different than past elections, he said: “It’s for the principles and values of America.”

Scene at elections office

White pylons were set up outside the office in anticipation of lines, but as of 7:45 a.m. there was no wait for in-person voting.

Pang Her came to drop her ballot in the secured box outside the election’s office. She chose to drop off her ballot, instead of voting in person because it allowed her to really study up on the ballot measures, “instead of being pressured inside.”

Manuel Tinoco was outside the Betty Rodriguez Branch of Fresno County Public Library on Monday morning, his voter’s guide and voter registration info rolled up in his hands, an “I Voted” sticker proudly displayed on his shirt.

After spending much of his life in and out of jail, Tinoco just voted for the first time.

“I finally accomplished something with my life,” said Tinoco, a Fresno resident who works in communications.

“It feels good.”

Voting in Clovis

A half dozen people were queued up outside the voting center in Old Town Clovis just before noon Tuesday.

It was a short wait for Gerald Tallent, who stood in line 15 minutes before casting his ballot.

He came to the polls wearing a camouflage Trump 2020 hat and a red mask that said “Make American Great Again.” He was asked to turn the hat inside out so as to not display any political endorsements.

“I should’ve worn another hat,” he said. “But this is my everyday hat.”

He voted in person because his absentee ballot never arrived.

Mostly, he came to the polls to cast votes for U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes in the 22nd congressional district race and for Trump, though he also paid attention to Prop. 15, which he sees as a tax hike on farmers.

There was a short line of less than a dozen people waiting to vote inside of Sierra Vista Mall on Tuesday afternoon, though there was a long line when the poll opened in the morning. At one point, the center was processing a ballot a minute.

Many of those coming in were voting for the first time and registering on the spot.

Many places, many ways to vote

Voters in this year’s presidential election had multiple options for how and when to cast their votes. Instead of voting at designated precincts, those registered to vote in Fresno County could mark and return their ballots early, either through the mail, or at secure drop boxes located around the county.

They could also vote in person at one of 53 voting centers — including the Betty Rodriguez library — the county opened on Saturday.

Fresno County Registrar of Voters Brandi Orth said voting began early Tuesday without a hitch. She said all the voting centers were up and running with hundreds of people casting ballots before 8 a.m.

Those centers are open until 8 p.m. Election Day.

Tinoco chose to vote on Monday to avoid any Election Day lines and because the voting center was near his home. Prior to showing up, he spent three hours going over the state propositions in his voter’s guide. He was particularly interested in Prop 20 (which makes changes to criminal sentencing charges and prison release) and Prop 25 (which would replace cash bail for suspects awaiting trial).

“Let’s be honest, most of them in there are poor,” Tinoco said.

His presidential vote went to Donald Trump, who Tinoco said isn’t without his issues, but “is the less of evil of the both.”

Fresno police on standby

The Fresno Police Department was taking a wait-and-see approach to any potential voting issues at public polling locations, police spokesman Sgt. Jeff La Blue said in an email to The Bee on Monday evening.

“We will respond to any location that generates a police call for service,” La Blue said.

“We will have plain clothes officers available to handle those low level calls for service at the polling locations that do not require a uniformed officer so as not to disrupt, or minimally disrupt those citizens of Fresno wishing to exercise their voting rights.

“We will only be responding to calls for service though and have no plans to monitor any of the polling locations.”

Helping neighbors vote

Leticia De La Cruz had already cast her vote by mail, but came to Fresno’s Ted C. Will Community Center on Tuesday morning supporting her neighbor.

“I think it’s very important that everyone come out and vote,” she said.

Prior to the election De La Cruz went through her neighborhood and helped neighbors register to get their ballots properly delivered.

She said two of them were in their 70s and 80s and had never voted before.

Biden got her vote for president because of his stance on Social Security and health care. De La Cruz and her husband are both cancer patients and worried about being denied health care for preexisting conditions.

“This election was important,” she said.

‘I wanted my sticker’

It was also important to 23-year-old broadcast student Macie Taylor, who dropped her ballot off at Fresno City College, where there were no lines but a steady stream of voters on Tuesday morning.

This was her second time voting and she felt like she rushed through the process the first time.

This year, she filled out the ballot at home so she could take time with each of the issues. She dropped it off on Election Day.

“I wanted my sticker,” she said.

Taylor says she sees many people her age who aren’t taking the election seriously.

She encourages them otherwise: “It’s your right. Don’t let them take your right away from you.”

A few issues early

Saturday saw some hiccups in Fresno and Tulare counties but they seemed to have been taken care of by Election Day, according to Amparo Cid, an attorney with Macedo & Cid who has led a non-partisan poll monitoring and troubleshooting effort since 2011.

The voting center at Hamilton Elementary lacked Hmong language ballots on Saturday, Cid said, and the center at Polk Elementary opened about 30 minutes late. “But voters were able to vote provisionally, which is important,” she said.

The effort of about 50 volunteers can be found at voting centers and polling places in Fresno, Tulare and Visalia, as well as more rural areas like Firebaugh, Parlier and Reedley.

“We saw a lot of issues particularly in Tulare County from systems being down to not enough materials being available,” she said. “(Election Day) has been much smoother.”

Orth said her records showed no delay at Polk Elementary.

The county is not required to provide a ballot in Hmong, but does provide a Hmong handout to accompany ballots for voters who want it, Orth said. Each center also has access to translators over the phone.

“A voter may have to vote provisionally if our records show they have already voted in this election,” Orth said.

Orth said Fresno County had counted about 11,000 votes at the 53 voting centers through 1 p.m. The drive-thru ballot drop off outside her Kern Street office had been steady much of the day.

The office received reports of supporters campaigning too close to the single voting centers in each of Fowler and Selma.

Supporters of at least a half-dozen different candidates in Selma could be see from the door of the voting center on Front Street. Orth confirmed the supporters were all outside the 100-foot radius where electioneering is prohibited.

“We have been to Fowler many times and do not see any electioneering,” she said.

Voting in person

Phil Hartamen also cast his vote Monday morning.

The 25-year old Clovis resident put aside any concerns over the coronavirus pandemic because he felt voting in person was the best way to ensure his ballot would be properly counted.

He voted at a site inside Clovis’ Sierra Vista Mall. There were no lines on Monday morning and he quickly went from the poll workers , who handed out ballots from behind plastic, to the voting booth, which was separated from other booths for social distancing.

“I felt as safe as I could be,” Hartamen said.

While he knows many people who are voting for the first time in 2020, he voted in the last three elections and says this one is particularly important.

It’s all about who will be the next president.

“It’s waking up every day since 2016 knowing I have to keep my eyes on politics,” he said.

Get out the vote

A group of faith leaders from Faith in the Valley held a Zoom call early Tuesday to continue to push people out to vote. Those listening were also asked to text their relatives to give them the same encouragement.

A text from friends and family goes much further than one from a stranger, according to Trena Turner, who is executive director of Faith in the Valley.

“At the end of the day, we want to say we left it all on the line,” she said.

This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 8:17 AM.