The U.S. Department of Justice deployed election monitors at several polling locations in Fresno County, though they were not apparent as live voting on Prop. 50.
It did not stop Fresno resident Beverly Bryant from heading to the polls.
“I am going to exercise my right to vote,” she told The Fresno Bee. “I vote to guarantee my right to complain.”
James Kus, the Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters, told The Fresno Bee that as of 2 p.m. on Election Day, in-person votes were just shy of 7,500, and as of Monday, Nov. 3, election officials had already received over 130,000 ballots. These numbers are well within the range of any primary election, he said.
Bryant did notice a few observers at the Fresno County Clerk’s Office while she cast her vote, but it was unclear which department they were from, she said.
Both the City of Fresno and the California Attorney’s office indicated their departments would also send election monitors to Fresno on top of the DOJ, meaning federal, state and city observers are at the polls.
Proposition 50 statewide results
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Voters at several locations across the city reported seeing monitors on Tuesday morning, and all said they had stayed out of the way, simply observing the process, but with no specific department identification.
Kus knew of only two federal observers around the county’s polling sites, saying far more observers from the state level or state advocacy organizations have been present.
DOJ officials contacted Kus last Friday, asking for suggestions on what polling sites to send their observers to. Kus told them that Woodward Park was likely to be the busiest location, and that would be a good place for them to observe, he said.
Prop. 50 would temporarily change the congressional voting map in California, splitting Fresno County into six districts. That’s two more than Fresno County had before the special election.
Prop. 50 started as an answer to changes in the Texas Legislature, which approved a new districting map that added Republican seats. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal in California was meant to add Democratic seats, an attempt to neutralize the effort in Texas.
The proposal, if passed, would use a new redistricted map in California for elections for the remainder of the decade. Maps are typically redrawn every 10 years following the U.S. Census.
The proposed changes would add a fourth district to the city of Fresno and split the single Clovis district into three.
Eligible California voters have until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4, to turn in their ballots.
In Madera County, 27,800 ballots cast had been verified as of the end of Monday, said Rebecca Martinez, the county’s registrar of voters. That’s about one-third of the 82,264 registered voters in Madera County for this election.
While neighboring Fresno County expected election observers from the Department of Homeland Security, Martinez said she has not been notified of any organized effort by the federal government to monitor the election in Madera County. But she said all election offices typically receive observers, though they are usually local people.
“Right now, I believe that everything is going smoothly,” Martinez told The Fresno Bee. “I’ve had no reports of incidents or any of that kind of thing.”
