Modest Turnout, Few Glitches at Villa Parke Polling Place

While Pasadena voters encountered longish lines at the City Hall polling place early in the day on Tuesday — reportedly due to three of the county’s new touchscreen voting machines breaking down — there were no such snags reported at the Villa Parke Community Center.

It helped that, according to election officials, turnout at the Villa Parke voting site was modest. It also helped that there were 40 machines at Villa Parke to accommodate what lead election official Angel Romero described as only “a heavy trickle” of voters.

Romero declined to give a more specific estimate of the number of voters. But poll worker Phil Levin, who said he’s pulled Election Day duty for “a couple of years,” estimated that around 300 voters had stopped by the center as of 2 p.m., to either vote live or to drop off the mail-in ballots. He estimated the average time for a voter, in and out, was 20 minutes.

Levin said, as has been his experience, that he expected another uptick between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., when people get off work.

“It’s not real busy – at noon, around lunchtime, there must’ve been about a dozen people lined up, but usually it’s been two, three, four,’’ Levin said. “It’s been spotty. But you’ve got to remember, this is the 11th day (of voting, incorporating L.A. County’s early-voting opportunities.)’’

Romero reported no major issues with the new machines, other than a few paper jams that he said sidelined six of the polling place’s 40 machines. He said county IT workers had been alerted and would remedy the situation, but that the glitches had not delayed anyone from voting because of the relatively light lines.

One other minor issue Romero’s poll workers had to deal with was a Bernie Sanders sign that was affixed over one of the arrow-bearing signs outside the building that directed voters to the proper voting location.

The “Bernie” sign was more than 100 feet from the polling place – Romero & Co. measured – so it was not technically illegal electioneering by the anonymous Sanders supporter. It was, though, not permitted, and the sign was removed once poll workers became aware of it.

“It’s not right, but it’s not illegal,” Romero said.

Meanwhile, the new electronic voting machines got generally good reviews from voters buttonholed by Pasadena Now after they had cast their ballots.

Wendy Zavaleta, 21, didn’t even know the touchscreen voting system was new.

“New system? It’s my first time voting,’’ she said. “It’s nice to see that there are technological advances. At the same time, I do worry about tampering.”

Jesus Carrasco, a retired Metro bus driver who described himself as “a young 81,” said, “I like this better than the old system. I’m not good with technology, but it was real simple, and there was plenty of help.”

Jaylynn Bailey, 49, said she was expecting some kind of a receipt from her voting machine – “Like, ‘Your vote has been registered,’ or something’’ – and was surprised the machines don’t do that.

“But other than that, it was just like using an iPad,” she said.