New Sonoma County voting centers ramp up amid light in-person turnout

Except for the chatter among eight election volunteers, the revamped voting center at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building sat quiet on Wednesday afternoon, its new mobile ballot printers and laptops ready to whir into action.

On June 7, Sonoma County voters will weigh in on three-way races for sheriff and county schools chief, and elect the next district attorney and superior court judges, among other officials. Residents in the north and south county will also be casting ballots for county supervisor.

The Santa Rosa voting center is one of seven that opened in the county on May 28, marking the first countywide rollout of the Voters Choice Act election model, which swaps assigned, precinct-based polling stations for centers able to accommodate voters from anywhere in the county.

“We’re here, we’re ready, we’re willing,” said Robin Giglio, a volunteer clerk who has volunteered during Sonoma County’s elections since 2008.

With Election Day for the state primary just days away, an additional 24 centers will open throughout the county on Saturday, bringing the total in-person voting sites to 31.

Under the previous election model, the county would have had anywhere from 125 to 175 polling locations open on Election Day to accommodate precinct assignments, said Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Deva Proto.

The centers will remain open until 8 p.m. on Election Day for those choosing to cast their ballots in person or needing to register to vote under a provisional ballot. Under a statewide shift, all of the county’s registered voters were mailed ballots for the primary last month.

The new voting center model represents another evolution adopted so far by almost half of California counties.

Because the new centers can accommodate voters from anywhere in the county, the sites utilize mobile ballot printers to print the correct precinct ballot depending on voters’ registered address.

“They get to have a fresh ballot. I think they kind of like that,” Giglio said, prompting chuckles from her fellow volunteers.

New laptops allow volunteers to check in voters on a secure system that updates in real time, freeing volunteers from having to mark off voters on paper rosters. Volunteers at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building welcomed the changes.

“It solves a lot of issues, simplifies a lot of tasks,” said Kaitlin Magoon, a volunteer co-inspector.

The county first began exploring the election model after the 2017 and 2019 wildfires impeded some voters’ ability to reach their polling location, said Proto.

The Voters Choice Act appealed to the county in part because it was “more disaster resilient,” Proto said.

Sonoma County is one of 27 counties in California to adopt the model, according to the California secretary of state’s website.

A CARES Act grant totaling $966,000 helped the county’s elections department to purchase the necessary equipment, including mobile ballot printers, secure connection devices, label printers and some laptops, Proto said.

The department also used the funding for personal protective equipment, voter outreach and disaster preparedness, Proto added.

Once it was cleared to move forward with the new model, the county held virtual public hearings in August to gather public input about the change, Proto said.

So far, the centers have received a quiet public reception.

Giglio and Magoon said that most people who have stopped by the center since May 28 did so to drop off their mail-in ballots rather than vote in person.

Giglio and Magoon said those dropping off their ballots seemed to find more comfort in handing their sealed ballots to a trained volunteer. Drop boxes are also available outside.

Ed Sikes, a volunteer inspector, estimated that about 10 people had stopped by the Santa Rosa center to vote in person between May 28 and Wednesday.

The light voter traffic is reflective of the slow return of ballots so far. As of Friday morning, ballots were in for about 15.6% of the county’s 304,022 registered voters, Proto said.

She added that low turnout is not unusual for midterm primaries, which typically see lower voter participation than a general or presidential election.

For this election, in local races where no candidate earns more than 50% of the vote, the two top vote-getters proceed to a November runoff, along with partisan races for state and federal office.

“When our other vote centers open the Saturday before the election, we will start seeing it pick up, and Election Day will be our busiest day. But it still won’t be comparable to a presidential election year,” Proto said.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.