The Central Valley has long been a stronghold for red California. And on Tuesday, there were strong voices in support of the withdrawal, while some election workers had to deal with taunts over unfounded conservative claims of election fraud.
The Fig Garden Loop district in Fresno is known for its large houses and courtyards full of fruit trees. Old money. Old farmers and ranchers. The polling place was in a business called Elite Venues.
After her turn, election supervisor Rebekah Doughty said it hurt her lip to bite him so hard as almost half of the incoming voters were breaking down to fight.
“They walked just pasting,‘ How many dead people vote here? “
“They questioned the feathers. They said that the machines did not read our type of pens ”.
“They pointed to the Dominion machines and said they were the center of the fraud.”
Workers were trained to respond that there were several steps in place to ensure the safety of votes and were welcome to come down to the counting facility and monitor.
Doughty worked in the primary and general elections, but said this was by far the most tense and problematic. She was happy to do it.
“This will give me goosebumps to explain,” he said. “But I believe in the right to vote. I think it should be accessible. If we lose the sanctity and confidence of our democracy (which is voting), then we are not a state for the people or for the people.
Doughty returned to Fresno from the Bay Area four years ago and is worried about California. “Before we had the ability to talk. I had Republican friends and we got into love discussions with both parties willing to listen to them.
“In recent years, no one wants to listen. It’s all “the system is manipulated.” They don’t trust the system, but they continue to participate, ”he said.
He thinks the withdrawal elections were frivolous and wasteful. “We don’t have to spend money on a retirement election a year after the election, when there are so many other things: schools, hospitals, healthcare, social justice and, yes, holes! I had to repair the car several times, ”said Doughty.
Jeff Kindler, a self-described businessman and business owner, arrived at his polling station in Fresno with a white work truck for his window repair company.
I wanted to vote to remember Governor Gavin Newsom in person.
“I certainly don’t like email voting. I’ve been doing it in person my whole life, ”he said, adding that voting is“ one of the most important things you can do as an American ”.
Kindler laughed as survey workers asked him to lick the envelope to seal his ballot.
“I’m not the brightest guy, but do you care about COVID and have people licking envelopes?”
He said the choice of withdrawal is a waste of money and blamed Newsom’s decision to dine at a luxury restaurant in the heart of the Napa Valley wine country as the pandemic faded in late last year.
“If I hadn’t gone to the French laundromat, this wouldn’t have happened. People saw it and got angry. Here I was dropping $ 15,000 at a 50th birthday party and in the meantime I couldn’t go to my friend’s funeral, ”he said.
Kindler is not passionate about any of the candidates running to replace Newsom. He just wants “someone to run it better,” he said.
In Bakersfield, Elsy Ruiz is looking for change.
“Homelessness. Crime. I just don’t feel safer, “said Ruiz, 46, of Bakersfield. “The gas is so high right now. It has become a choice between a gallon of milk or gas.
Ruiz has lived in Bakersfield since 1992 and said he has seen on television how things have changed for the worse in the state. He wouldn’t even consider visiting Los Angeles – a developing nation is better, he said.
The tipping point was how Governor Gavin Newsom handled the pandemic. She ordered closures and caused businesses to close, she said.
“That was the cherry on top,” he said.
She got so upset that she visited Texas and Arizona over the summer to see where she could move in with her husband after her 16-year-old turned 18. On election day at Bakersfield College’s Norman Levan Center, Ruiz voted in favor of remembering her. He believes Larry Elder, a GOP candidate and talk show host, would help lead Golden State in a better direction.
“Elder has a different perspective,” he said. “Let’s try something new.”
Marcum reported from Fresno; Bakersfield Fertile Valley.