Pacifica Voters Take to Polls in Big Numbers

Pacifica voters today took to the polls in an election packed with national, statewide and local candidates and initiatives, and early indications point to a big turnout, poll workers said.

By early Tuesday afternoon, poll workers reported over 150 voters had cast their ballots at Lacy Middle School, which was among 11 Pacifica polling stations.

“At 5 o’clock there’s going to be a line out that door,” longtime poll worker Don Bradley said, pointing to the polling station’s entrance.

“Numbers-wise, it’s going to be a very good election.”

The crowds that trickled in included a recently naturalized citizen voting for the first time.

Poll workers said voters arrived at the Lacy station subdued but with a sense of purpose.

“People seem pretty chill,” poll worker Brandon Lavve said. “I think they’re pretty sure of their vote.”

Most voters who spoke to Patch in front of the Lacy polling station expressed greater interest in the presidential election than local races, and all but one of the eight voters interviewed said they’d voted for President Obama.

Several voters declined to reveal whom they voted for.

“Not a surprise,” said Jack Gosse-Fuchs, a 26-year-old art student after he was told his support for Obama followed a trend among voters unscientifically surveyed outside the Pacifica polling station.

“Nobody’s wondering which way California’s going to swing on this one.”

Mitt Romney voter Steve Sanchez acknowledged that at least in local circles, he’s in the minority.

“I’m kind of in an area that would lean towards President Obama,” he said.

“I don’t think (Obama) did a bad job the past four years, I just think that maybe it’s time for a new direction,” Sanchez added of his support for the Republican presidential candidate.

Raul Gutierrez, a 74-year-old semi-retired cook who still works part time at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco’s Union Square, cited education and job creation were the most important issues to him in his presidential vote.

“I voted for Obama,” he said proudly.

Ted Bailey, a retired construction worker who said he’s over 70, declined to state who he voted for, but said he was more interested in the presidential race and state ballot initiatives than he was in Pacifica’s council race.

“I didn’t vote for any of the local (candidates),” Bailey said.

Fewer than half of the voters Patch interviewed leaving the Lacy polling station said they’d voted in the council race or had much interest in it.

None of the voters who said they did cast their ballots in the council race could name more than one of the candidates they voted for.

“They’re perfect strangers to me,” Bailey said. “If I wanted to make an intelligent vote I’d have to attend city council meetings and stuff like that, and at least get an idea of where these people are coming from, but as it is I don’t know who they are or what they represent.”

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