 Voter turnout was up across the nation, a fact especially evident for poll workers in Inyo County. In Independence (above), 72 voters turned out before 2 p.m. Tuesday, which is about the total number that showed up at the polls in June. There were also more absentee ballots submitted for the precinct. Photo by Mike Gervais By Darcy Ellis
Editor
11-6-2008 Polls across the country are reporting record voter turnout tallies for Tuesday’s historic presidential election, and according to the numbers coming in from the Elections Department in Independence, Inyo County residents were no exception when it came to making their voices heard en masse.
With approximately 1,350 votes still to be tallied following the close of the polls at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Registrar of Voters Mary Roper reported yesterday that Inyo County is on track to meeting or even surpassing its previous voter turnout record of 82 percent.
“I think we can project turnout will be about 85 percent,” Roper said, “assuming the 111 or 112 provisional ballots left to be counted are valid.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the semi-official voter turnout tally was 71.37 percent, based on a total of 7,330 ballots cast (by mail or at the polls) with 10,270 total residents registered to vote for the Nov. 4 General Election.
The preliminary figure does not account for approximately 1,200-1,300 absentee and mail-in ballots yet to be processed or the provisionals that residents voted with at the polls for various reasons. Those provisionals have to be validated through a time-consuming, extensive process after the absentees are counted and election workers verify which registered voters actually cast ballots for the election and which didn’t.
Roper said she is hoping to reconvene a “Board of Four” on Friday to begin the rest of the tally.
In the meantime, she is confident in reporting a definite, higher-than-average turnout – one marked in particular with a noticeably increased presence of younger and first-time voters.
She also noted her office received so many late registrants that it almost ran out of booklets to mail out to the new voters. “When I sent my last report to the California Secretary of State’s Office on Sept. 5, our registration was under 10,000,” she said, noting that she received 566 voter registrations between then and the Oct. 20 voter registration deadline. Of those, according to Roper, 176 came from residents age 30 and younger.
Inyo County has had high registration for past elections, but less enthusiasm from residents when it came time to act on election day.
That clearly wasn’t the case Tuesday, as reported not only by Roper but poll workers from Lone Pine to Bishop.
In Lone Pine and Independence, where turnout was above-average, volunteers noted a lot of first-time voters from all age groups, but especially in the 18-25 age range. Longtime Independence poll worker Sandee Bilyeu said she had never seen an election inspire such a response at the polls in Inyo County as this one.
In Bishop, 15-year election volunteer Theona Wasson said at least two dozen residents had formed a line at the Tri-County Fairgrounds’ Home Economics Building by 6:30 a.m., waiting for the polls to open at 7.
And the voters didn’t stop coming until the polls closed at 8 p.m.
Mary Baker, a first-time poll volunteer appearing to have the time of her life, called the turnout “tremendous,” with a steady flow of residents filing into the auditorium all day.
Part of her job was to greet voters as they came through the door and direct them to the correct precincts, or in a few cases ask them to remove any campaign paraphernalia from their person or clothing (those in violation of the polling place anti-electioneering law politely obliged). Baker noted she personally knew of about 20 first-time voters taking part in the election Tuesday.
Wasson agreed there was “a very noticeable increase” in voters, “especially in young people.” She also noted that a lot more parents seemed to be bringing their children to the polls to let them share in the excitement.
“We’re seeing a lot of pride when they come into vote – and a lot of responsibility,” Wasson said.
Residents in general seemed to be getting to the polls – or getting their ballots in – any way they could.
Wasson told of a woman who was recently hospitalized made sure her husband came down to get her a ballot so she could still participate. Residents were also going to great lengths to hand-deliver their absentee ballots to poll workers.
“Some people have literally staggered in because they’re so tired. They’re making sure their vote counts,” Wasson said. “It’s very exciting to see the turnout and the enthusiasm – it’s wonderful.”
Depending on the outcome of the outstanding ballot count, Inyo County could well beat the turnout tally from the last presidential election in 2004, when 81 percent of the 10,718-resident electorate voted.
The 2004 turnout was just shy of Inyo County’s modern era record of 82 percent – the highest turnout the county has had in at least the past 30 years. That record was set in 1992 when Ross Perot ran for president against Bill Clinton and the elder George Bush, with Clinton emerging as the victor.
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