Sparse turnout at Yuba-Sutter polling places

Few people are voting today in Yuba and Sutter counties.

“It’s been extremely slow,” Yuba County Clerk Terry Hansen reported. “I’m hoping it picks up this evening when everybody starts getting off work.”

Turnout in Sutter County is also sparse, but, County Clerk Donna Johnston said early morning traffic was better than first anticipated.

“It’s a little brisker than we thought it would be,” Johnston said.

Check results tonight on our political news page

Voters are going to the polls today to vote on nine local races, along with two state propositions.

No problems have been reported in either county, as of mid-day.

Yuba City poll worker Richard Neese has worked polling stations for the last four years and said Tuesday’s turnout may be one of the worst he has seen.

“I think it’s probably because the main race, the presidential race, is already sewn up and I don’t think any of the local elections have really created a lot of excitement,” Neese said. “We’re not even seeing as many vote-by-mail walkins as we thought we would.”

Both Hansen and Johnston had predicted a 30 percent turnout in Yuba-Sutter. They also said that vote-by-mail ballots were down this year, with only about 4,000 of 14,000 ballots sent out in Yuba County having so far been returned.

State Propositions 28 and 29 were the main reasons that Yuba City’s Dorothy Lanphier came out to vote today. Prop. 28 seeks to adjust legislative term limits and Prop. 29 would add a $1 tax on cigarettes to fund cancer research.

“Those I really spent a lot of time trying to understand,” Lanphier said. “Those were the two main issues that I saw.”

Live Oak’s Rose Calabrese said she’s not passionate about any one issue, but said she always votes because she believes the democratic process is “a right and privilege” she values above any particular campaign.

“The freedom to vote is an awesome responsibility and, if you don’t vote, then you’re just turning our country over to whomever or whatever,” Calabrese said.

Olivehurst’s Dan Harris also voted more out of habit than passion.

“I thought maybe we’d get to vote for the presidential primary, but, after that, I guess it was just the two ballot measures,” Harris said.

Polls close at 8 p.m.

CONTACT Rob Parsons at rparsons@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4785. Find him on Facebook at /ADcrimebeat or on Twitter at @ADcrimebeat.