Incidents reported at three SLO County polling places

A vigorous day of voting proceeded smoothly at the vast majority of polling places across San Luis Obispo County, according to San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong, but there were a few notable incidents.

Gong predicted a very strong voter turnout and said his office fielded calls Tuesday from voters who may not have cast a ballot in some time. He said by the time all the ballots have been counted, this election may rival those in 1992 and 2008, which each drew an 83.1 percent turnout.

As of Tuesday, 75,600 vote-by-mail ballots had been returned to the county, out of 121,195 issued. With a total 168,257 registered voters, that leaves about 47,000 voters who could cast ballots at the polls, Gong said.

Gong reported three polling place incidents Tuesday in which emotions appeared to run high and law enforcement was called: one in Paso Robles, one at the San Luis Obispo Veterans Memorial Building and a third at the Clerk-Recorder’s Office.

Paso Robles Lt. Ty Lewis said a man reported that he felt intimidated at his polling place. Police investigated the incident and determined the poll workers also felt intimidated.

“He was wearing a red Hells Angels shirt and felt that he was being targeted because his shirt was red,” Lewis said. “It doesn’t appear there was any intimidation on the part of the people working at the poll site.”

The man was able to cast his ballot.

In San Luis Obispo, police were called about 1:15 p.m. because a man was disrupting the polling place by yelling at voters who were sitting on the lawn, Sgt. Fred Mickel said. The man was asked to go on his way.

And in downtown San Luis Obispo, Gong said, a sheriff’s deputy accompanied a man outside to fill out a provisional ballot because he was being loud and disrupting voters.

“This has been a very polarizing election, and I think it’s gotten under the skin of everyone,” Gong said. “Given the type of election we’re having, I think we’re having a pretty darn smooth election here.”

During the day, election turnout was brisk at polling places in San Luis Obispo.

Jerry Kaml, lead polling inspector at the Nazarene Church on Johnson Avenue in San Luis Obispo, said that for the first time in many years there was a line of voters waiting to get into the polling place at 7 a.m. There was a steady stream of voters coming into the polling place throughout the morning, he said.

Kaml said he thinks the big voter turnout is due to the fact that important issues are on the ballot, including Measure J, the half-cent sales tax that would be spent on transportation infrastructure in the county. In spite of the good turnout, most of the voters in his precinct vote by mail.

“Of the 963 voters in this precinct, 700 are vote-by-mail,” he said.

Sharon Mesker, a precinct inspector at the Unity Church polling place in San Luis Obispo, said turnout has been brisk at that location as well. She said she has noted an unusually large number of younger voters and attributed this to the high level of attention this election has received.

Voter turnout was also busy at the Unity Church on Orcutt Road in San Luis Obispo. Harvey Packard of San Luis Obispo said he was relieved the election is finally over as he entered to cast his ballot. “This has been such a controversial and divisive election,” he said, shaking his head.

Staff writer Cynthia Lambert contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Incidents reported at three SLO County polling places."