Monterey County preps for large voter turnout

A historic election, as millions of Americans cast their ballot for our next president. Large turnouts are expected.

Monterey County has seen a steady stream of voters going in and out of the Salinas elections office so far.

According to the California Secretary of State’s Office, there’s a record 19.4 million voters in the state and of that, more than 185,000 in Monterey County.When we spoke to the registrar Tuesday afternoon, more than a third of the ballots had already been cast, whether in person or by mail.

Presidential elections tend to bring in more voters, but some said every election is important.

“Some say ‘oh I only vote in the national election.’ No. There’s always initiatives that affects us. We’re senior citizens, and so my kids, I was a teacher so education, everything, health care, anything that comes up is always an issue that could impact us,” said voter Opal Quintero.However it is still too early to tell what the voter turnout will be. Monterey County Registrar Claudio Valenzuela said he believes it could be similar to the 2008 election, when Barack Obama won over John McCain. During that election, voter turnout was nearly 83 percent in Monterey County.

Official voter turnout will be clear once the votes are certified.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he’s still questioning the integrity of the election. But local election leaders believe they’ve taken the necessary steps to prevent fraud.

Signs are posted outside the elections office in Salinas stating no electioneering within 100 feet of polling places. On Tuesday, there were several instances of people hanging out or driving through the parking lot, promoting their candidate or cause, but not enough to intimidate voters.The Monterey County Elections Office does allow folks to come in and observe the process. There are even opportunities where observers can see what happens after Election Day, like counting ballots and doing random selections or precincts to make sure there’s no fraud.

“Anybody that calls us and wanting to do poll observing and observing the election, we refer them to our guidelines, get familiar with the guidelines, the do’s and don’ts of serving the polling places or the activities of the election,” Valenzuela said.

There are more than 900 election workers on staff Tuesday. Many have been through training to help the voters, making sure voters aren’t being harassed and maintain the integrity of the election.

So far, there has been at least one truck in the parking lot, showing support for Trump. But he wasn’t intimidating anyone and police were not called. If problems do crop up, election officials will call police.