preview.tinyurl.com/55b4kx -> www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/23/MNEK13MLPN.DTL
Comments Georgia (default) Verdana Times New Roman Arial Font | Size: Election day is only 11 days away, but for thousands of people around the Bay Area, that's simply too long to wait.
But many people - and particularly many African Americans who are voting early in huge numbers - say they just want to vote. Gloria Smith, 55, took a Muni bus from her home in San Francisco's Western Addition to City Hall this week to cast her first-ever vote for president. She's never been inspired by a presidential candidate before, but she couldn't wait to make her choice for Sen. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime for African Americans," she said. Annie Dudley, 57, is an African American woman who lives in the city's Excelsior district. She votes by mail in every election but drove her older brother, Henry Manning, to City Hall earlier this week to register to vote and cast his ballot. The last time he voted for president, he picked John F Kennedy. "A lot of African Americans are voting now," Dudley said, proudly watching her brother vote from afar. "Even ones who never thought about voting in their life, they're voting now." State law California law allows voting during the 29 days leading up to an election. Cynthia Cornejo, deputy registrar of voters for Alameda County, said 1,600 people have already taken advantage of the law at her office, a big jump from previous years. In San Francisco, the number of early voters is up by about 20 percent. Marin County has seen a fivefold increase in early voters. Santa Clara County has seen hundreds of people voting every day, roughly twice as many as usual. Sue Olvera, election processing supervisor in Contra Costa County, said her office has been extremely busy, too. "There are a lot of people who are wanting to vote in this election who have really not been involved in elections before at all," she said. The same sort of excitement can be seen in all of the 31 states that offer early voting, said Paul Gronke, a political science professor at Oregon's Reed College who runs the Early Voting Information Center. "The early voting rates are stunningly high everywhere at this point," he said, pointing out that North Carolina is seeing a 100 percent uptick compared with four years ago and that Florida voters already are waiting hours in line. The historic nature of Obama's candidacy, the enthusiasm among Republicans for Gov. Sarah Palin and worries over the continuing war in Iraq and the economic meltdown are spurring people to vote early, Gronke said. Voting by mail also is up, but many people want to vote in person because of concerns their ballot could get lost in the mail or the excitement of voting in a booth rather than at the kitchen table. Push from campaigns The campaigns of Obama and John McCain have been pushing supporters to vote early for weeks. Usually, the Republicans have better success on that front because older, more conservative voters are more likely to vote early or by mail, Gronke said. But so far, the demographics of early voters this year bode much better for the Obama campaign, he said. "You can't help but believe the historic nature of the Obama candidacy has got African American voters believing this is the Christmas present they've been waiting for," he said. "They're not waiting for Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. Cherell Hallett, a 49-year-old Bayview resident and judicial assistant for a federal judge, waited in line to vote at City Hall during her lunch break Thursday. "I've been looking forward to this since the campaign started," she said, bouncing on her feet and peering over the heads of people in front of her with the eagerness of a kid waiting in line for a Disneyland ride. Sheila Frazier, who lives in Ingleside, gave her nieces a history lesson about the fight women and African Americans waged to get voting rights - and then promptly drove them to City Hall to exercise that right. Shanelle and Shante Davis, 23 and 20, voted for the first time and donned red "I Voted!" John Arntz, San Francisco's election chief, said he'd received 4,135 early ballots as of midday Thursday - a 20 percent increase from four years ago. He's also received 35,000 vote-by-mail ballots, another 20 percent increase. Record turnout expected The turnout four years ago in San Francisco was 74 percent, representing the highest number of people voting in the city since 1952. "Normally, the number of folks who come down to City Hall to vote early translates to what we'll see at the polls," Arntz said. Hampton Smith, a 51-year-old grant writer from the Mission, votes in every election but couldn't wait until election day this time. He rode his bike to City Hall this week and spent a long time poring over the lengthy ballot. "People want to vote, and they don't want to wait any longer," said the African American man who's already looking into plane tickets to Washington, DC, to attend Obama's inauguration if he wins. He said finally voting after months of anticipation felt great. "I just wish some of my relatives were still around to cast that ballot," he said. When and where to vote early Alameda County: 8:30 am-5 pm Monday though Friday;
|
http://csua.com/feed/