■ Steady stream of city residents as local, state, federal candidates, ballot measures face judgment

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Voting by mail is a growing trend, but in Benicia, for some voters, nothing beats going to the polls.

“It’s been busy and steady,” Jeff Aberbach, inspector at Precinct 21010 at Benicia Senior Center, 187 East L St., said midday Tuesday. “It hasn’t stopped.”

In fact, when he arrived to open the doors, voters were waiting. “We had a line when we opened at 7 this morning, at least 15 people waiting outside,” Aberbach said.

“I even had a voter come in yesterday,” he said, about the time he arrived Monday to transform the Senior Center into a polling place.

The woman wanted to vote early, “but I had to tell her in California, we don’t allow that.”

Across the room, Lorinda Arechy, inspector for Precinct 21005, said voters in her precinct were turning up about 50 each hour.

She has lived in Benicia only three years, moving here from Hawaii where she also served as a poll worker, so she couldn’t compare local turnout to previous years. “But it’s pretty good. We had 200 by 11 a.m.,” she said.

That doesn’t count those who stopped by to drop off vote-by-mail ballots, which were being collected in another area of the Center.

Most of those Arechy had seen were arriving to vote. “There’s a lot of excitement in voting, and people love to wear their stickers,” she said. Each voter was given a red, white and blue circular sticker that proclaimed “I voted.”

Margaret Villarreal, who lives nearby, said she has been voting in person in Benicia since 1954. “I don’t mind voting in person,” she said.

She said she felt prepared for the decision, having watched TV broadcasts and studied newspaper articles about the candidates and ballot measures.

Theodore Fitzsimmons rode his bicycle to cast his ballot. “I haven’t signed up to do vote by mail. This is convenient enough,” he said, though “I know there have been problems with machines in the past.”

William and Bernadette Cambra also said they like to vote in person. “You can experience this with other people,” William said. That’s something that can’t be done by mail, he explained.

“It’s wonderful to see the turnout, and see young people working,” Bernadette added.

Both said they felt well- prepared to vote, but were astonished by the millions spent by each of the presidential campaigns, and the billions spent overall on advertising in the 2012 general election.

“You had to do your own, in-depth study,” William said. “Television ads didn’t tell the truth. It takes a lot more individual research on the propositions and the candidates. The individual had to take more responsibility.”

“So many of the ads are slanted,” Bernadette agreed.

One voter, who identified himself as Charles K., said he didn’t mind bypassing vote by mail to cast his ballot in person. “I like to make the effort. It’s not asking much,” he said. He said he “had a pretty good handle” on the issues and candidates. “They hit you over the head for so long!”

Karoly Pekla said he wanted to cast his ballot in person. “I want to make sure who’s the president,” he said. Like other voters, he was studious in researching the various facets of the 2012 general election.

“I got so much information from watching television and other media — otherwise they wouldn’t make money!”

Another voter named Emily said she liked the act of going in person to the polls.

“It’s a special thing. You don’t write in your prom attendance,” she said. “Besides, I don’t trust the mail.”

She was clear on most of the issues, though she had pondered how to vote on Proposition 30, one of two ballot measures that would raise taxes to benefit schools.

While Emily favored one of its provisions, to impose higher taxes on those earning higher incomes, she worried about its quarter-cent increase in sales tax.

Ultimately, the proposition won her support, she said, “but the sales tax is an unfair tax.”

Visit www.solanocounty.com/depts/rov/ for details on county election results.