Turnout heavy early on Election Day

This is an updated version of story posted earlier on Tuesday.

BARSTOW • Dolores Lazcano did not get her “I Voted” sticker Tuesday night.

The first time voter cast her ballot about a half hour before the polls closed, but the Seventh Day Adventist Church had run out of stickers.

“It was very exciting,” Lazcano said.

Voters across the Barstow area turned out to vote Tuesday. Jeff Drisdom, who was working the Seventh Day Adventist polling station, estimated that of the 2,800 voters registered to vote at the church, about 1,800 did. David Walker, the polling inspector at the First Baptist Church on Barstow Road said he filled up three boxes full of ballots, something he has never done before. He estimated about 2,000 people cycled through the church to vote.

“It is unusual,” he said. “Some people just wanted to vote for president.”

Theresa Ramos volunteered at the Cora Harper Community Center polling station. When asked how many voters passed through the gym she just said, “A lot.” Ramos said there were a lot of first time voters who were excited to cast a ballot. She, too, was excited.

“That’s why I worked today,” she said. “I wanted to be part of this.”

Not all polling stations were a zoo on Tuesday. Gail Johnson and several other members of the Barstow Association of Realtors worked a new polling station at First United Methodist Church. She said the poll was busy but manageable on Tuesday. Valarie Dwight, the inspector at St. Philip Neri Church in Lenwood, said Tuesday’s turnout was nothing unusual. She said more people voted in the recall of California Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.

“It’s been really steady,” she said. “I really thought there would be more.”

Even at polling stations with heavy and steady turnout, poll workers said voters did not complain about long lines. Many, workers said, we happy just to vote.

Nikolai Gilbert was happy as the polls closed Tuesday. The 17-year-old high school student had hoped the Shepherd of the Desert Lutheran Church poll would suffer no disasters during the day.

“I was right,” he said, throwing his arms up. “No gloom and doom.”

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4121 or aaupperlee@desertdispatch.com