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EMERYVILLE -- When Barbara Rivers arrived at Emery High School to work the polls as she has done for the past four years, she expected a slow, uneventful day. She was in for a surprise. Updated Nov. 5, 11:55 pm
"I would usually have to amuse myself by reading a book or bringing some games," Rivers, 57, said. "I would be sitting there waiting for someone to come in. But not today."
More than 300 people turned up to vote by 7:45 p.m. Tuesday evening, compared with only 100 people who voted there last year, she said.
At one point, eager voters were lined outside the door, Rivers said. Some even turned around to leave because they couldn't wait for one of the four voting booths to open up. "We never had this great of a turnout since I've been working here," Rivers said.
It's an off year for Emeryville city elections. There were no controversial local initiatives for voters to approve, nor were there candidates vying for council or school board seats to choose from.
"There was nothing specific to Emeryville," said Darrin Weyers, 31, an Emeryville resident who also worked the polls at Anna Yates Elementary School. "But I'm concerned about the direction the country is taking. I need to vote on everything they give me a chance to."
And that lack of local issues meant that the mad campaign rush that accompanies election time was all but absent here There were no signs stapled to telephone polls or pasted on buildings, and locals said they hadn't seen politicians rallying votes in their neighborhood.
While residents in other Bay Area cities were besieged by last minute phone calls from state or county candidates today, Theresa Savage, 64, a retired federal government worker and an Emeryville resident since 1977, said she hadn't received even one call from a candidate or a campaign worker all this year.
No one had come knocking on her door to pass out leaflets, either, she said. "They send mailings and think that's sufficient," Savage said. "But they could peek their head in and say, 'Hey, I know you're there."
Nevertheless, Savage and many others headed to the polls today anyway, defying expectations of low voter turnout this year. "I will always vote," Savage said. "I teach my grandkids three rules of life: self preservation, education and always exercise your right to vote. You must vote."
And she wasn't the only one to do so. More than 400 residents had shown up to vote at four polling precincts by 12:30 p.m., and by 8 p.m. nearly 800 residents had voted at three polling precincts. In November 2001, 18.7 percent of registered voters had cast their votes. In Emeryville, that's only 637 people.
Like Savage, Weyers said he also hadn't gotten any phone calls. Emeryville's size and small population of 7,300 often puts it last on state or county campaigns' pre-election lists of places to target. And some major political parties, none of which have local chapters here, admit to neglecting the city's 3,529 registered voters.
More than half of those voters are Democrats, but party officials struggle to remember the last time they focused get-out-the-vote efforts here. "We've all left Emeryville out, to be perfectly honest with you," said Diane Raulston, president of the East Bay New Democrats. "Because it's so tiny, it gets swept in with Oakland and Berkeley."
That strategy is also true for the Green Party of Alameda County, even though Emeryville has 158 registered Greens. "We're not doing anything in Emeryville," said the county's Green Party campaign volunteer. "We're doing more in Oakland. That's our focus right now."
Even though managers of the season's high-visibility campaigns are ignoring them, voters today said they knew that the state and county measures could drastically impact their community.
"I consider Barbara Lee a local," said M. Andersen, 60, a retiree who voted at Emery High School.
Anderson also voted to approve Proposition 47, an initiative endorsed by Emeryville's school board that would allow the state to sell more than $13 billion dollars in bonds to renovate school facilities.
"We are definitely looking for new facilities in Emeryville, for the middle school especially," school board member Cheryl Webb said in an interview two days ago.
Emery Middle School is a converted elementary school and lacks lockers and showers, among other necessities. Webb said the district has tried to do some repairs, like putting in a new carpet, but "we need so much more."
Since the district is paying off a $1.3 million state loan, it lacks the funds to deal with such issues. Proposition 47 could be the answer. "It's targeting schools that really have a problem with facilities," Webb said.
Anderson also voted for Proposition 46, which promises to fund emergency shelter and housing programs. "Even though I hope I never have to use it, I have a daughter who might need shelter one day," she said.
And what about the governor's race? "That is hopeless," she said with a laugh, "just plain hopeless."
Barbara Rivers, also an Emeryville resident, said her concern for seniors and children drove her to the polls today.
"No one is doing anything about the schools," she said. "I have grandkids, nieces and nephews that go to school. It's really depressing how they are letting the schools fall apart."
Residents clearly didn't need calls from campaign workers to motivate them to vote.
One woman, who didn't want to be named, said she left dinner on the stove to rush to Anna Yates Elementary to vote before the polls closed. "I had ancestors screaming at me to get out of my house and to come out and vote," she said. "That's the honest truth."