California polls close: Sacramento area had some busy, but tame, Election Day lines

Sacramento-area residents are hitting the polls today in record numbers to vote in a momentous presidential race, as well as have their say on a long list of hot-button state and local issues Tuesday.

Polls in local counties are open until 8 p.m. and officials warn of the potential for long lines later in the day and evening.

We’re following the action throughout the day with updates from around the region.

Long lines, voters urged to go elsewhere

Sacramento County elections officials report 10 of the 84 county vote centers are experiencing long lines and long waits, including waits of up to two hours at the South Natomas vote center.

Officials are asking voters who planned to go to those centers in the afternoon or evening to look up nearby vote center sites instead. Officials said voters can download the SACVOTE smart phone app, which lists locations of all voting centers, as well as noting which ones are the nearest.

Officials, meanwhile, are setting up extra voting booths outside the building at the Natomas voting site.

The centers with the largest capacity for fast voting are Golden 1 Center arena downtown and Sacramento State.

The congested centers are:

▪ Sylvan Oaks Library

▪ Hillsdale Baptist Church

▪ Depot Building

▪ Koreana

▪ APAPA

▪ North Highlands-Antelope library

▪ Orangevale Community Center

▪ South Natomas Library

▪ Robertson Community Center

▪ University of Phoenix

Incident at Citrus Heights City Hall

A woman with two small children created a disturbance Tuesday at the Citrus Heights City Hall voting center as she yelled and cursed at voters waiting in line, telling them they should take off their masks.

The incident occurred about 11 a.m. as a long line of voters wrapped around the building toward the voting center entrance. Voters and elections officials say the unidentified woman had dropped off a ballot at the voting center before she started shouting at other voters. County elections officials said she was telling people to chant for Trump.

“She was going around telling everyone that they didn’t need to wear a mask,” said Diana Brogden, a Citrus Heights voter who had been waiting in line for about an hour at noon Tuesday as she neared the entrance of the voting center.

Another voter said the disruptive woman was telling voters they must be ashamed of who they were voting for, or else they would take off their masks. Voters are urged to wear masks to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

Larry Miramontes, one of the staffers working at the Citrus Heights voting center, said another staffer instructed the woman she was violating election laws by standing inside the 100-foot “no electioneering” zone. He said once the woman moved outside the 100-foot zone, she left the area on her own.

Miramontes said it was much busier Tuesday than it had been in the previous nine days the voting center has been open for voters to cast their ballots in-person. He said the wait time Tuesday was about an hour to 90 minutes, and these were all voters who wanted to vote in-person, even some who had received a mail-in ballot.

Sacramento mayor ‘cautiously optimistic’

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Stienberg gathered with a few staff members at La Cosecha at 4:30 p.m. to start watching the presidential results roll in. His stomach was nervous, he said, but not because of Measure A, the so-called “strong mayor” measure. He was nervous because of the presidential election and hoping for a Joe Biden win.

Instead of alcohol, he ordered a sparkling water to try to ease his nerves.

“Obviously Measure A is very important to me but more important is the country,” Steinberg said while staring at CNN behind the bar.

On Measure A, Steinberg said he was feeling “cautiously optimistic” it would pass.

“I⁩ believe it’s the right thing for the city,” Steinberg said. “I didn’t think even six months ago we would want to take on this particular battle, but I’m glad we did.”

“If the voters say yes, we are going to move with greater urgency and dispatch on all these issues,” Steinberg said. “If the voters say no, we are going to continue to fight to make things better. My message tonight, no matter how it turns out, is let’s continue fighting for the city that we want.”

El Dorado clarifies ‘electioneering’ law

El Dorado County officials report vote centers have been busy but largely orderly. Election officials say some people have complained about what they believed was illegal “electioneering” at the polling place. Those were instances, though, of cars with bumper stickers parked in the parking lot out front, beyond the 100-foot no-campaigning zone.

Spokeswoman Carla Hass said representatives for both the Republican and Democratic parties are stationed at vote centers to observe the action.

Elk Grove issues — and stickers

At Elk Grove City Council chambers, election officials had to deal with a person who tried to campaign within the 100-foot no-electionering zone Tuesday morning.

“Someone was right outside,” official Dharon Grayson said. “We told them they had to move. We make sure to let them know they won’t do that.”

Some people declined to wear masks, prompting officials to process them with sufficient social spacing. “We’re ensuring distancing and we made sure people aren’t electioneering,” Grayson said.

At Elk Grove Library, voters used a drop-off site instead of voting in person. Vanessa Mason pulled up just before 9:30 a.m., her and her husband’s ballots in hand.

“It was nice and easy. Friendly people — and stickers! What else could you ask for,” Mason said. “It’s definitely changed the way we do things,” she said of the pandemic. “But it’s important that we can vote. However we do it, we do.”

Blue dots and voter intimidation?

Residents at seven homes with Biden-Harris campaign signs or flags in a Roseville gated-community discovered suspicious blue dots spray-painted on the street in front of their houses.

Pam O’Quin and her husband, Adam Quilici, discovered the blue dot outside their home when a neighbor alerted them Sunday morning.

“When we first saw it, I said ‘Oh, that’s weird,’” O’Quin told The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday. “Then I was scared ... but later I got upset.”

O’Quin says she believes the blue dots were spray-painted in front of these homes to intimidate the residents from expressing their political affiliation. Her home sits in a cul-de-sac, where two other homes have Trump flags and campaign signs.

“If I had more (campaign) signs to put out, I would put them out just to make them mad,” O’Quin said.

She and her husband have been living there for about eight years. She said this was the first year they had posted election signs on their lawn, and the first time anything like this has ever happened to them. But O’Quin says she’ll do it again, “Because I’m tired of these people trying to bully us ... it’s time to stand up to them.”

She believes someone who lives in the gated-community spray-painted the blue dots, and she’s afraid about what might happen after the election.

“I think they wanted to mark which houses to harass once the (campaign) signs are down,” O’Quin said.

She said a neighbor with his teenage son came over to her house Sunday night and cleaned the spray-painted graffiti off the street in front of her house. Q’Quin said she wondered why the neighbor wanted to do that, but she didn’t ask him any questions about his motives.

Roseville Police Department spokesman Rob Baquera said the spray-painted blue dots were about 10 to 12 inches in size, each were found on the street in front of seven homes with Biden-Harris campaign signs or flags. He said the campaign signs were not tampered with and the homes were not vandalized.

He said investigators did not have any indication the blue dots were meant to intimidate, persuade or dissuade the residents, but the motive behind the vandalism was unknown to police. The vandalism in this gated-community appeared to have occurred at some point from Saturday night through Sunday morning.

“We did not see this as a trend throughout the city, rather something isolated to this one neighborhood,” Baquera told The Bee on Tuesday morning. He characterized the vandalism as “very odd” and “an extremely rare occurrence.”

He said police investigators had not found who was responsible for the vandalism, and he encouraged anyone with information about the vandalism to call the Police Department at 916-774-5000.

Placer County elections chief Ryan Ronco said the vote was going smoothly in his county as of mid-morning, but officials are prepared for problems. That may include calling on sheriff’s deputies, if needed.

“We feel confident we are ready for any type of issue at the polls, whether it is a demonstration that is going sideways or a person angry at something, or a legitimate threat,” Ronco said.

First voter of the day

In Sacramento County, more than 1,000 people had cast votes in the first 15 minutes that the polls were open, “a strong start,” election official Janna Haynes said.

Patricia McElroy, 56, was among the first. She stood first in line at 6:30 a.m., a full half-hour before the vote center opened. She was there early because, she said, as an African American woman, it’s important to voice her opinion.

“Yes, I wanted to be first,” she said from behind her mask. Some 20 voters were already lined up behind her awaiting the opening, standing at marked, six-foot intervals. “People are still fighting hard for equal rights.”

The year 2020 has been a divisive one in the country, she said. “My wish is, no matter who you vote for, let’s just make it a peaceful day.”

Election worries

Nevertheless, in what has been an at-times ugly election season, officials say police and sheriff’s deputies are poised to intervene in case of disturbances. And election officials say they are prepared to tread a thin line between accommodating people who refuse to wear coronavirus masks, but taking a no-tolerance stance on electioneering or intimidating behavior at the polls.

In downtown Sacramento, some businesses boarded up their front windows Monday evening in case of street protests.

Sacramento officials were forced to call police last week when a voter became belligerent after being told to remove his MAGA hat in the vote center, and in Yolo County, officials are investigating a possibly race-based note left on a voter’s door.

Record number of voters

The election has been ongoing for a month. Sacramento election spokeswoman Haynes said the voting period, which has been underway for a month, has been relatively calm so far. But

The election so far has been historic locally, in the state and nationally, with record numbers of early votes already in.

Taking advantage of robust mail-in and drop-off ballot options, a record 60% of registered voters in Sacramento County had cast ballots as of Monday night.

El Dorado, Placer and Yolo also report that more than half of registered voters in those counties had turned in ballots before today’s final voting day.

Huge early turnout across California

The California Secretary of State says 12,780,739 ballots were cast before Election Day. That is more than half of all registered voters in the state. Most of those were ballots mail-in early enough to arrive at county offices before Election Day.

The Postal Service has 17 days after Election Day to get all remaining mail-in ballots, posted by today, to election offices for a final count.

First-timers come out to vote

Rosie Hidalgo, an elections official at Elk Grove’s Toby Johnson Middle School, said the day has been unusually busy. Part of the reason, she said, could be the contentious mayoral race between incumbent Steve Ly and challenger, Elk Grove School Board president Bobbi Singh-Allen.

“This is an important election today. We have a lot of initiatives, the mayor’s race. Maybe that’s why this community is coming out in droves,” Hidalgo said.

Many, Hidalgo said, were new faces: new voters, recent transplants and young voters.

“We’ve had a lot of first-time registrations, people who have transferred from other counties, a lot of young people,” she said. “When new voters come in, we clap quietly. One proud dad brought his son in (to vote) for the first time and took his picture.”

Counseling for emotional distress

Some voters brought their emotions to the polls. Suzanne Jones, 62, a state worker, showed up before work Tuesday at her vote center saying she is nervous about the rancorous political tenor in the country.

“I’m more afraid than I’ve ever been,” she said. “I think we are precariously close to going to the extremes on all sides, right and left.”

With that in mind, the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Sacramento has a hotline for people to call who are struggling emotionally, including with issues involving the election or COVID-19. Senior Chaplain Mindi Russell says she had nine people request someone to talk to Monday.

“We are apolitical,” she said. “We know elections bring on anxiety. We are here to validate what they are feeling and (help) process it.”

Sacramento Kings tour

Members of the Sacramento Kings organization are teaming up with Be Woke.Vote to visit polling places across the city Tuesday, including Harrison Barnes, Bobby Jackson and mascot Slamson the Lion. The Kings said they were setting out to “share water, swag and motivation to voters waiting in line in under-served communities.”

Be Woke.Vote describes itself as a nonpartisan voter engagement initiative committed to mobilizing historically disengaged people of color. The group is also scheduled to visit polling locations at Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer on Marconi Avenue in the Arden Arcade area, Fletcher Farm Community Center off Florin Road and the Oak Park Community Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Election Day winds down as polls close

By the final hour of polling, as temperatures in the region dropped to 60 degrees, crowds seemed to be thinning out at some vote centers.

Electoral action at Citrus Heights City Hall, previously a scene of high energy and packed with voters eager to cast their ballots, had slowed down to a trickle by 7:20 p.m.

Around three dozen voters still stood in line outside in the chilly air, and even as the clock ticked down to the final minutes of polling, some voters still came to City Hall to line up.

After what election officials at the site characterized as quite the busy day, the mood was mostly quiet. One woman told an attendant that she planned on reading through her voter guide while she waited.

Voting basics: What you need to know

Voters are asked to wear a mask when at the vote center, following pandemic requirements set by the Secretary of State. Counties have made social-distancing accommodations to keep voters safe during the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic.

Anyone in line prior to 8 p.m. is allowed to vote, even after the published 8 p.m. closure time.

People who fill out their ballots can drop them off with a voter registration official at a vote center without having to stand in line, and in some cases will be able to ask a vote center worker to take their ballot from them at their car.

People who want to campaign must stand 100 feet or more from the entrance to a polling place.

The ballot drop boxes in counties will remain open as well for people to use who have filled out their ballot at home and do not want to go to a vote center. County elections officials will pick up ballots from those boxes at 8 p.m.

People who choose to can still drop their mail ballot into a U.S. Postal Service collection box, but must check the collection times listed on the outside of the box to make sure they are dropping their ballot off prior to the last collection of the day.

Voters can check the materials in the mailed ballot package or check on their county’s voter registration website to find address lists for vote centers and ballot drop boxes.

You can track your ballot’s progress through the system by signing up at the the Secretary of State page, WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov.

When do results come in?

Because there have been so many mail-in ballots, it will take several days for most results to be counted. Formally, the counties have several weeks to finish.

But, substantial early results will be published on county voter registration websites soon after the polls close at 8 p.m. Sacramento County officials plan to publish their first results at 8:15 p.m., and that number may account for more than half of all votes cast.

The county will update those numbers with further vote counts at 10 p.m., midnight and 2 a.m., then periodically in the days that follow.

This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 7:15 AM with the headline "California polls close: Sacramento area had some busy, but tame, Election Day lines."