Off the I-15

from the field

Just stopped at the Methodist church at the intersection of Barstow Road and Mountain View. The Barstow association of Realtors are staffing the polling station to raise money for a sick co-worker.

The county started a partners in democracy program this year that allowed organizations or businesses to run polling places and donate the stipended as a fund raiser.

Poll workers at the lutheran church are also raising money for their youth group.

Any other groups working the polls to raise money tonight?

Not really, but turnout in Yermo is breaking all kinds of records.

Before Matt Peters, the Desert Dispatch’s sports editor, went out the final home game for the Silver Valley High School girls, he stopped at the polls in Yermo to see how things were going. There is a competitive race for Yermo’s Community Services District between incumbents Michael Henderson and Loney Weems and challenger Bob Smith for the first time in a while.

One poll worker told Matt the there are about 600 registered voters in Yermo. Thus far, about 400 of them had voted. Another person told him she has voted in almost every election and has never seen so many people.

Despite the turnout, poll workers told Matt that things have been running smoothly. No long lines, they told him, but a constant stream of voters.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

The pizza has been ordered, and the newsroom is digging in for a long night of election coverage. We’ve already lost it over the CNN hologram.

So now what… It’s a lot of waiting on election night. It’s a lot of looking at maps and clicking on the county’s ROV Web site. And for JoAnne, our page designer, a night of needle point.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

I’ve met several people today who voted for the first time.

Brian Depue had never voted before but showed up his poll. Same with Stephen Rodriguez. Even though his friends didn’t agree, he felt that his vote today was important.

Several friends and I stay connected through each other using the Web service twitter. It allows you to post 140 character updates to the Web from computers and mobile phones. She posted about her first time voting today. She was surprised at how easy it was to vote.

“It made me feel like anyone could go in there and give my name and address and vote for me,” she said after voting.

She said when she asked her friends — many of whom could have voted for their first time — if they voted, and she got more “no” than “yes” responses. She did not know why so many of her friends missed the opportunity to vote in what she called historical.

“I’m glad I got to be a part of it. …It’s definitely going down in the books.”

Aaron Aupperlee | City editor

Any interesting voting stories out there right now?

We’ve entered the strange Election Day lull where we are just waiting for the results to come in.

Call me, 760-646-6025, if anything is happening at a polling location near you.

Aaron Aupperlee | City Editor

blogging from the field

I’ve been asking voters all day if they think today is an historic election. Many say yes. Either the first black president or first woman vice president.

Sard Kamel had a different reason. He immigrated to Barstow 22 years ago and connected with Obama becuase Obama’s father was also an immigrant. For Kamel, he got to vote for someone he identified with for the first time.

How’s that for history.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor.

The fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers won last night might have been a good omen for the Barack Obama camp, but today’s windy weather could even the score.

Historically, the Washington Redskins final game before the election determines the outcome of the election. According to www.nbcsports.com, if the Redskins win, the incumbent wins the election. If the Redskins lose, the challenger wins.

So Obama was most likely a Steelers fan on Monday night and was happy to see them pull out a 23-6 win.

However, weather also plays a factor in elections. According to www.accuweather.com, long lines are still forming in areas where rain is falling on election day. Bad weather has spelled doom for the Democrats and glee for the Republicans.

A team of political scientists studied the effect of weather on the voting and published their findings in a 2007 issue of The Journal of Politics. The study, The Republicans Should Pray for Rain: Weather, Turnout, and Voting in U.S. Presidential Election, found that Democrats are more likely to stay home if there is bad weather on Election Day.

There’s wind in Barstow and rain elsewhere in the country but that does seem to be detering voters this year. The Desert Dispatch reported that turnout was higher than ever early in the day. And www.cnn.com said there are long lines everywhere.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor