Voting Like the Good Old Days

As expected, Governor Newsom survived the recall vote; in fact it was a landslide in his favor.

With more than 8 million votes tallied, the recall campaign was capturing only a third of them. Millions of Californians had already cast their votes ahead of election day, after officials mailed a ballot to every active registered voter in the state last month, allowing county election offices to process their ballots ahead of time and begin releasing results shortly after voting concluded at 8 p.m.

A few notes about voting at the recreation center, which was the only in-person voting place in Foster City yesterday:

The line moved very slowly.

The staff made us fill out an identification form that contained our name, mailing address, and date of birth.

They re-entered the information on a computer screen and checked to see whether it matched County records, after which they handed us a paper ballot.

Not once throughout the process did they ask for a photo ID. It was my observation that an average of 5 minutes per person was wasted on filling out the form and re-entering and verifying on the computer. In contrast photo ID's were required for vaccinations, where the lines moved quickly.

There were no voting machines. We inscribed our choices in blue or black ink on little ovals on the paper ballots, which were then dropped into the slot of a big orange box. Just like the good old days.

There were two big orange boxes; the other was off screen to the right.