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Politics

San Diego County Voting Unfolding Smoothly With Higher Turnout

A sign for a polling place in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego, Nov. 6, 2018.
KPBS Staff
A sign for a polling place in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego, Nov. 6, 2018.

Voting in San Diego County on Tuesday has been a relatively smooth experience, even with higher-than-normal turnout, a spokesman said.

Michael Workman, San Diego County communications director, said workers at the Registrar of Voters have been very busy. While official numbers were not available Tuesday afternoon, the county has received 430,000 mail-in ballots out of 1.2 million sent out, according to the Registrar of Voters.

As of Monday, early voter turnout was "pretty robust," Workman said.

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So far, there have been no reports of problems at polling places, Workman said. "It has been extremely calm and quiet," he added.

Workman said polling places will probably be especially busy between 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., when they close.

Between the various races and state propositions, "this is a very long ballot," Workman said. "It might take (a person) 12 minutes to vote."

He advised people to fill out their sample ballot first before heading to the polls.

The nonprofit group California Common Cause, which staffs a hotline for voters experiencing problems at the polls, reported Tuesday that calls had been received complaining that poll workers were asking for IDs at polling places in some areas, including San Diego. IDs are not required to vote in California.

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Officials advised people who encounter suspicious problems trying to vote to call (866) OUR-VOTE.

The San Diego County Registrar of Voters responded to a tweet from one local voter Tuesday who claimed that "my polling location volunteer made fun of my last name, joked that they wouldn't let me vote, asked me where i'm really from, where my name is really from, and when i said i'm american, looked at me suspiciously. this is voter intimidation," artist Susie Ghahremani tweeted.

"Hi Susie, we sent a field representative to speak with the poll workers at this location. Thank you for letting us know," the Registrar's office tweeted back.