Thousands of Sacramentans visited polling places, vote centers and ballot drop boxes across the region on Tuesday to ensure their voices were heard ahead of the 2024 General Election.
Tom Martinez, a co-inspector for the vote center at the Oak Park Community Center, said he’s worked every election since 2018.
This time around, he said he’s noticed an increase in provisional voters — something he thinks has to do with the significance of this election.
The Oak Park Community Center Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Sacramento.(Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio)
“I don’t know if it’s because people are more involved now because of the division that’s in the country, but we’re getting a lot of late voters who want to register now and vote provisionally,” he said. “They know it’s an important election — that’s why they want to come and vote.”
Provisional ballots are often cast by Californians who want to vote at a polling place or vote center. People who missed the online voter registration deadline can also cast provisional ballots.
Julie Nguyen, 27, is a state worker who dropped off her ballot in the Sacramento Kings Team Store at the Golden 1 Center. She said she voted for Kamala Harris because she believed Harris would fight for her rights.
Julie Nguyen outside of the Sacramento Kings Team Store in Downtown Sacramento on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.“A lot of social media has to play with who I voted for,” she explained. “There’s so much bad press on the other candidate versus this candidate. The other candidate, his views might not align with what I believe in, more than hers at least.”
Although Nguyen said she waited “until the last minute to vote,” some issues that matter to her include homelessness and the lack of affordable housing.
“I can’t even imagine buying a house,” she said. “It definitely would require two incomes, and even with two incomes, it’s going to be a struggle to buy a house. It’s never going to be easy buying a house, but I can’t imagine us ever being able to afford buying a house now. We can’t even afford groceries.”
Kaitlyn Llorens, 28, also dropped off her mail-in ballot at the Kings Team Store. She’s from Oregon but has lived in California for over a year.
Kaitlyn Llorens drops off her mail-in ballot at an official ballot drop box located inside of the Sacramento Kings Team Store in Downtown Sacramento on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.(Keyshawn Davis/CapRadio)Llorens voted in favor of Proposition 32, which would raise the minimum wage from $16 to $18 an hour.
“I think that a lot of people are struggling in the economy today and it just seemed like a direct way to put more money in the pockets of hard working Americans,” she said.
Regarding voting, Llorens said “It’s really important for everybody to have a say in the future of the country that we live in.”
A ballot drop box inside of the Sacramento Kings Team Store Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Downtown Sacramento.(Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio)Erica Bradley is a retired state worker and Sacramento resident who came to the Oak Park Community Center to drop off her ballot.
Bradley said she was about to drop off her ballot at a facility close to her house, but wanted to be “where my people are.”
“Do it for your ancestors who died for their rights,” Bradley said. “It's not just at the national level, but locally. Around here, a lot of people focus on the presidential [race], but these propositions that are going on and who we're putting in on the school boards and in the local races, all of that matters almost just as much or more, because it's impacting us right here at home.”
Bradley said she voted against Proposition 36 because she worried about how it might affect prison sentences for Black and Brown people.
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