REGION: Elections chief predicts 80 percent turnout

Democrats surpass Republicans on county voter registration rolls

By DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Monday, November 3, 2008 6:45 PM PST ∞

San Diego County voters shattered early-voting marks over the weekend, prompting the county's election chief to project a turnout of up to 80 percent Tuesday.

Also, election officials reported Monday that Democrats, energized by Sen. Barack Obama's historic drive for the presidency, have seized the voter registration advantage from Republicans for the first time in nearly a quarter-century.

Going into Tuesday's presidential election, nearly 1.51 million people are registered to vote countywide, and Democrats outnumber Republicans 547,148 to 543,856, according to registrar statistics.

The ranks of independents have swelled more than either major party in recent months to reach an all-time high of 350,808.

More than 60,000 voters are registered with minor parties.

Deborah Seiler, the registrar of voters, said 76 percent of registered San Diego County voters cast ballots when Americans elected a president in 2004.

This time around, Seiler said, "I'm thinking it could easily meet that or exceed that."

In addition to setting a record for mail ballot requests ---- 660,000 ---- voters set a one-day record for early voting Saturday and then broke it Sunday, she said.

A total of 2,373 ballots were cast Sunday.

"This weekend was just unbelievable," Seiler said. "Thirty-year veterans (at the registrar) said they had never seen anything like it."

Through Monday, a record total of 20,000 voters were expected to cast ballots before Election Day, she said.

Statewide, a record 17.3 million people are registered to vote, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said.

Election officials throughout the state expect turnouts to approach 80 percent in several counties, and to see more than 40 percent of voters cast ballots by mail, according to The Associated Press.

Besides the presidential race, Californians were motivated to go to the polls by a full slate of state and local propositions, including a county measure that would raise property taxes to fund regional firefighting efforts and a statewide measure that would ban gay marriage.

Polls suggested that Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage measure that drew a record $73 million in campaign donations, was a virtual tossup.

Polls open at 7 a.m. at the county's 1,697 precincts and close at 8 p.m.

"If they are in line at 8 o'clock, they will be allowed to vote," Seiler said.

When it came to standing in line Saturday, voters, in essence, wrote a new definition for early voting.

"People started lining up outside our office at 5 in the morning," Seiler said. "It was a tsunami of people coming onto the facility."

The initial wave created problems for the registrar's office ---- and a three-hour wait for Brent Cornell, an insurance company manager from Carlsbad who was trying to squeeze in a vote before coaching a flag football team in an afternoon game.

After winding in and out of the elections office in Kearny Mesa in "almost an amusement-parklike snake line with the ropes and what have you," he, a friend and 40 others were directed to a seating area.

They were supposed to receive ballots within minutes.

But those minutes grew into an hour and a half, as waves of voters leapfrogged them, Cornell said.

"And we were among the first people in line, that's the crazy thing," he said Monday.

Seiler blamed the delay on a machine glitch that began putting names of the earliest voters below later arrivals on a list of people to receive ballots.

"It was sorting the names to the bottom," she said.

While frustrated, Cornell, a single father with two sons, ages 16 and 12, said he was determined to stick it out and cast his vote.

"I feel like I want to change things," said the registered Libertarian. "And I try to teach my kids the only way that you can do that is to vote. ... My attitude was, 'I'm not leaving until I get my vote counted.' "

To avoid long lines Tuesday, Seiler urged people to vote at their neighborhood polling stations rather than at the registrar's office, and at midday rather than at the end of the day.

While the emphasis this election is on paper ballots, voters still have the option of using an electric touch-screen voting machine, Seiler said. There will be one at every precinct.

And, she said, "Anybody can vote on it."

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.