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Today’s midterm elections have garnered staggering numbers for our small town, with people of all ages flooding the polls. With many diverse sentiments about National, state-wide and local issues, the voting fervor is at full force today.
According to one of the poll workers, a typical midterm election for a precinct sees approximately 200 people by the end of the day. During this election, however, over 400 people had already visited the polls before noon.
With a constant flow of voters turning out today, a few voters were willing to lend their time to discuss this year’s ballot.
Rosa Cesaretti, who has lived in South Pasadena for over 4 decades was most concerned with State Measures 2 and 10. Citing the homeless issue pertaining to Measure 2, which would provide funds to existing housing programs for individuals with mental illness, Rosa explained that she felt that allocating the funds for the homeless “Makes sense, because a lot of the homeless have some kind of mental illness”.
In regards to Measure 10’s issue on rent control, Rosa was behind the idea saying “I think something needs to be done.”
A young voter by the name of Ryan Montez, who aligns himself with what is known as the Peace and Freedom Party, felt a sense of liberation this year. After the 2012 election, Ryan decided to change his party stating “It feels better to vote without forcing yourself to choose between Democrat or Republican…It’s interesting to research things and see what is, in the end, the goal of voting for Peace and Freedom.”
One measure that Ryan was most invested in was County Measure W, which would improve and protect water quality in Los Angeles, prepare for future droughts, and reduce marine pollution. “I thought it was pretty telling, while you’re reading the description, that there’s still a lot of pollution in LA… that (measure) definitely seems like it would impact the community at large.”
Another voter, David, who has lived in South Pasadena for a decade, politely declined to have his photo taken. “I’m not enjoying how the administration is going, so I’d like move it in another direction.” He was also concerned with Measure 10 as well, which he did a lot of his research on.
As far as the way the issues were presented both in the ballot and in campaign ads “It was a little confusing, I had to muddle trough the issues a little bit more and do my own research… the commercials themselves were confusing, they made me think a couple of times.”
Generally many of the people that lent their time didn’t feel that many of the political ad campaigns did not sway them one way or the other, but rather motivated them to do their own research on the issues and draw their own conclusions. Needless to say, it seems that many voters in our city feel passionately about the election this year.
