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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Thousands of Lake County voters headed to the polls on Tuesday for the special statewide election called to decide on Proposition 50.
Lake County News staff once again participated as part of the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office’s Election Observer Panel, which visits precincts throughout the course of election day.
For this election, Lake County News sampled the four Northshore precincts, visiting them on Tuesday afternoon in the following order: Lucerne, Clearlake Oaks, Upper Lake and Nice.
At the Lucerne precinct, located once again at First Lutheran Church on Country Club Drive, election staff said the flow of voters coming in to cast their vote was busier than expected.
“I thought it was going to be a lot slower than it is,” said Marilyn Pivniska, a longtime inspector at the Lucerne precinct for the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office.
For all of the precincts, the fact that voters receive ballots by mail has required an additional step in order to make sure ballots aren’t cast twice.
Voters can mail their ballots or drop them off at their precinct on Election Day. At the Nice precinct, located at the Community Baptist Church on Highway 20, staff said about 60 people came in to vote but there were many who came in to drop off their ballots. Staff said many people want to come in to do that ballot dropoff specifically for themselves.
When a voter comes to the precinct to cast their vote, they should bring their ballot, which they can then turn in before voting.
If they don’t bring the ballot or simply forget, they have to essentially register to vote again and fill out a provisional ballot. Pivniska said when that happens, they need to call the Registrar of Voters Office to make sure the ballot they received in the mail wasn’t already cast.
She said all of the precincts now have explainer sheets for community members to help them understand the process.
In Clearlake Oaks, elections staff were busy helping voters navigate the process and get their ballots cast.
Election Clerk Estelle Austin welcomed people, offered help, answered questions and kept the action moving.
She said the voter traffic had been pretty steady. “So far, so good,” she said late Tuesday afternoon.
While special elections tend to have less turnout, “It’s actually been pretty decent,” Austin said.
Down the road in Upper Lake, election staff welcomed voters at the Habematolel Pomo community room, next door to the space on Main Street where the precinct used to be located.
Inspector Sue Dillard said Upper Lake is unique. Voters there aren’t crazy about mail-in voting and instead want to come in and cast their votes in person.
“People like to come out,” she said, noting that the precinct usually has large turnouts.
Voters turning up without their mail-in ballots was a consistent issue for the Upper Lake precinct.
On hand to offer additional help was Jacob McKelvey, a senior at Upper Lake High School.
Following a recent presentation at his school by Registrar of Voters Office staff, McKelvey’s interest was piqued. He hadn’t thought about it before, but after the presentation, he decided to volunteer as a precinct worker — and he got the day off from school to offer that service.
Stationed near the door and overseeing the ballot boxes, McKelvey was assigned the vote-by-mail clerk position, and also helped voters with their provisional ballots.
McKelvey didn’t just help voters, he also learned a lot about the process and the system and found people welcoming. As a result, he wants to work at the precinct again next year.
Few voters use machines
One of the common denominators across all of the precincts was the lack of interest in using the voting machines.
At the Clearlake Oaks precinct, located at the First Baptist Church on First Street, when asked about how often people use the voting machine, staff replied, “Never,” explaining that people want to use paper ballots because they don’t trust the machine.
In Nice, Inspector Ron Stewart said nobody used the voting machine Tuesday, although in the past they had a woman who regularly used it. Nevertheless, “Gotta have it,” he noted.
In Lucerne, two people used the voting machine, but there were no takers in Upper Lake.
Bob Rauch is a longtime volunteer who has also worked with voting machines in Nevada and Sonoma counties. Fellow precinct worker, Clerk Paul Rykert, called Rauch “a legend.”
“I feel like I’m past legend,” said Rauch, who has worked with the voting machines in Lake County for six years.
Did anyone use the voting machine he diligently oversaw for another year?
“Not today,” said Rauch, acknowledging that people don’t use them much.
Voting disability rights advocates say the machines are important for accessibility, and Rauch said that’s who they are primarily intended to serve.
In Nice, precinct staff said the day was “moderately busy,” as people came through either to cast their votes or drop them off.
During the day, they had one person coming through who used the drive-thru handicap voting, which has long been an option but isn’t always used.
They said there was nothing unusual that took place.
Young people needed
As precinct staff were coming in to deliver the ballot boxes to the Registrar of Voters Office in Lakeport on Tuesday night, one of them asked a Lake County News reporter if she realized how many older people are staffing precincts.
Before leaving, she said the message needed to get out that more young people need to get involved.
For information about the Registrar of Voters Office and how to contact the agency to be involved with future elections, visit https://www.lakecountyca.gov/818/Registrar-of-Voters.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
