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| Get out the vote |
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| Written by John Saiz | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Wednesday, 05 November 2008 | |
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Early indications show strong turnout for election
 Poll worker Debbie Calcote (left) helps Patterson resident Jan Camp place her ballot in the electronic voting machine at the Patterson Unified School District polling station Tuesday morning. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator A historic race involving the nation’s first black presidential nominee topped the bill, while some heated local and state races rounded out the lineup. Locally, voters decided Patterson’s next mayor, two City Council members, a countywide sales tax measure and a school bond. “I got a lot to do today, but you know what? You gotta (vote),” said Nanette Chavarria as she stood in a small line at the Federated Church. “No excuses.” What attracted so many voters isn’t clear, but show up they did. “Oh, this is much better,” said Patterson poll worker Lupe Romero. “We’ve seen more in one hour than all day (in 2007) elections.” Workers at the fire station and Father Connors Hall reported similar turnouts. “Looked like we had 30 people lined up,” poll worker Jimmie Duran said. His polling place wasn’t the only one to report lines. “We had them coming at 6:20 a.m.,” said Richard Day, who has worked the polls for close to 15 years.  Voters turned out en masse Tuesday, energized by a historic presidential contest, controversial state propositions and several contentious local campaigns. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator The final turnout numbers were not available at press time, but they will likely dwarf the previous mayor race in 2006. That race generated little to no heat as Becky Campo, a political veteran who had been sitting on the City Council, soundly defeated Slonksnis, a political rookie with a felony conviction for domestic violence, by about 60 percent. The last competitive mayoral race, in 2004, attracted almost 1,000 more voters than the 2006 race even though the city’s population was about 5,000 people less. This time around there’s been no lack of attention as Campo squares off against Luis Molina, a Patterson Planning Commissioner and Trustee on the County Board of Education. Adding spice to this election is a recently revealed controversy involving Molina. About a week ago a mystery source provided the Irrigator with articles detailing Molina’s resignation from his position as student body president of Chabot College in 1994 after using about $500 in student government funds for personal use. Even before that revelation, the campaign had grown tense. Campo complained about someone defacing her campaign signs and suspected someone in Molina’s camp did it, while Molina complained Campo dodged every attempt to organize a debate. Voters will also select two representatives for Patterson City Council. Incumbents Annette Smith and Dominic Farinha are running against Jeff Realini and Slonksnis. Smith and Farinha have each raised about $3,000 for their campaigns and have signs all around town. Realini and Slonksnis have not filed finance papers because they did not meet the minimum donation requirement, they said. A couple of local initiatives might have also rustled some of the voters. Measure V, a proposal that would increase property tax to provide school funding got at least one person out early. Measure S would also have significant local impact. Voters are being asked to agree to a half-cent sales tax increase in order to fund several countywide transportation projects. While it might be unclear what attracted the high voter turnout, it’s not uncommon for people to show up en masse when the presidency is being decided. “They do turn out when it’s for the president,” Day said. Contact John Saiz at 892-6187 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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