Turnout and passions high as Modesto voters visit election polls

Voters came out to back candidates they felt strongly about, to elect whom they deemed the least offensive choice or to cast ballots of conscience for contenders who they knew didn’t stand a chance of winning.

In any case, voter turnout was trending well above average at Modesto polling places Tuesday morning, said workers at several. Field inspector Allison Senk, overseeing 11 voting precincts, said shortly after 10 a.m. that each had at least 70 to 100 voters come and go. “Well above average, and we’re only three hours in,” she said while visiting the polling place at Trinity United Presbyterian Church on Carver Road, which already had 128 ballots in the box.

Outside Trinity United, Renée and Kevin Garcia said they’re faithful voters but were unimpressed with the candidates this time around. America sets the bar for democracy, the couple said. “And this is all we’ve got?” Renée Garcia added. “It’s kind of a mirror of our country, and the world is laughing at us.”

She believes this election should be a wake-up call to America, she said. After all, with either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump as our next president, “we put them there.”

Earlier in the morning – about 8:30 a.m. – La Loma Grace Brethren Church had 55 ballots in the box, and nearly as many people had dropped off mail-in or provisional ballots. The small polling place – just one stand that can accommodate four voters at a time – was very busy when it opened at 7 a.m., workers said, and had a line most of the first hour.

At the Sylvan Union School District office on Sylvan Avenue, a line of about 10 people had formed by 7 a.m. But tables inside supplemented the one voting stand, so voters were quickly accommodated.

Outside the La Loma Avenue church, first-time voter Andrew Arroyo said he wrote in Bernie Sanders’ name for president. “I think it should be an accurate representation of who I wanted for president and who I believed in,” he said, adding that he’d still be OK with a Clinton victory.

This election was “more just about educating myself on the issues,” Arroyo said. He said he feels strongly about environmental sustainability, so Proposition 67, the ban on single-use plastic grocery bags, was an important one.

Mary Woods, also voting at La Loma, also declined to vote for Clinton or Trump. She opted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. “Trump is racist and Hillary is crooked,” Woods said. She’ll be concerned for our country no matter which of the two is elected, she said, but would rather it be Clinton because she supports women’s rights, has political experience Trump lacks and “she doesn’t seem as hotheaded.”

Woods said she also voted to strengthen the death penalty. Jails are overcrowded because the state is not executing people who have been convicted of heinous crimes and sentenced to death, she said.

At the polling place at North Modesto Church of God on Sherwood Avenue, Neil Brady said he, too, voted to strengthen the death penalty. And when it came to the presidential race, he declared, “Let’s hope it’s Trump Day.”

If Trump doesn’t win, Brady and wife Wilma said, they’ll be “really upset.”

“We’ll feel the election has been rigged, if you consider everything that’s happened,” Neil said. “If he wins, we’ll still be worried because you don’t know what will happen. ... He has the guts to say what he wants to do,” but may not be able to get it all done.

Wilma said a Clinton victory would be “four more years of despair.”

She and her husband, now in their 60s, have been able to do well, she said, but she worries for younger generations. Of their children and grandchildren, “will we be able to say that about them?”

A line about 20 deep had formed by 6:45 a.m. at the Sherwood Avenue church, said precinct inspector Connie Arnold. At about 9:15, 101 ballots had been cast, plus a handful of provisionals. “We’ve been very busy, and we’re one of the busiest precincts,” Arnold said. She’s been a poll volunteer for 15 years and said it was the highest turnout she’d seen.

Sue Lorenz was heading back to the parking lot without having voted. She said she’d return when it was less crowded. That gave her a little more time to decide, anyway. Lorenz said she researched all the propositions and was ready to vote on them, but as for the presidential candidates, “I’ll decide when I get in there.” She said she is not impressed with either Trump or Clinton.

At the same polling place, Bill Michael shared a similar sentiment: “You’re voting for the lesser of two evils.”

He and wife Marilyn voted Clinton, but Marilyn did so with more enthusiasm. “I voted for the only person with the qualifications to be president,” she said.

Having come of age in the 1960s, she said she’s pleased to see the nation on the cusp of electing its first female president. “That’s part of it, but not all,” she said of her support for Clinton. “I’m concerned about my grandchildren and children. I have great concern for the people of this country at the attitudes and beliefs he holds.”

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Turnout and passions high as Modesto voters visit election polls."