ELECTION DAY COVERAGE: Richmond voters turn out for possible ‘historic’ outcome, with few lines at the polls

As polling wrapped up Tuesday night,  Richmond voters talked about what issues swayed their vote.

Gloria Space said her concern was about local rent control getting more affordable, low-income housing. “They need to focus on the reform of landlords, so tenants are not treated any kind of way,” she said.  

The need for affordable housing was reiterated by Philip Slater ,who voted in Marina Bay Harbor.

“We have a lot of empty lots in this city, and a lot of areas that could be rezoned, repurposed, and redistricted for everything from business to housing. Something needs to be done with the vacant land.” It was for this reason that Slater voted for Sue Wilson to be District 5’s council member. 

At Richmond Annex Senior Center, Laura Saponara said “I tend to feel comfortable supporting people that run on a platform of holding corporations accountable.” 

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Many residents, like artist and Iron Triangle resident Kevin Mathieu, were excited to have exercised their right to vote. He cast his for Harris and sketched a cartoon of that vote being made by a cat.

“It’s currently the last right we have, the only power one has. It makes a difference,” Mathieu said. “If it wasn’t important, so much money wouldn’t be spent to try and influence our vote, modify us, etcetera.”

In addition to choosing who to vote for, residents also have the choice of how to vote in future local elections. In the 2020 presidential election 43 million Americans cast their vote by mail, according to data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the same election, 87% of Californians voted by mail according to the California Secretary of State. 

Retiree Eleanor Torres chose to cast her vote in-person instead of at the mailbox. “I wanted to feel the energy of the day,” she said. “ I feel like mailing it … you mail it weeks in advance. I don’t feel like the participation is 100% versus coming in.” 

But mailing in ballots can also increase accessibility of elections for voters who may not be able to make it to their polling stations. 

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El Sobrante resident Roberta Jalbert said she’s been voting by mail since she was 18 because it allows her to participate in elections even when she’s busy.

“Absentee ballot, to me, is the way to go, and I’m happy to have the drop boxes so I don’t have to put it in the mail. That always worried me, putting my ballot in the mail,” Jalbert said. “So it’s a great system. I love the drop box.” 

Another Richmond resident, Philip Slater, has a sentimental reason for voting in person. Slater told Richmond Confidential that in 1987, while stationed in the Republic of Korea in the U.S. military, he often drove between army bases. During the election that year, he witnessed lines of Koreans waiting in the frigid temperatures at polling places, hoping to cast their votes for the candidates they supported. It inspired a sense of civic duty for him that has lasted nearly four decades. 

“Because of seeing this civil act of not just tossing [your ballot] in the mail and forgetting about it, but coming down here, putting the vote in, getting the lovely sticker in-person — saying that I voted reminds me of the civic duty that I have as a citizen of this country to vote,” Slater said.

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Ira Christian came to the Nevin Community Center to cast his vote for Willis, citing the council member’s track record. Christian is the brother of Otheree Christian, who is running as the incumbent candidate for the West Contra Costa Unified School District School Board Area 2 seat against challenger Guadalupe Enllana.

Brown, who running against Willis, took her ballot to Nevin Community Center and chatted with voters there shortly after the polls opened.

“The first time I ever voted was 2008. I voted for Obama, and I cast my ballot right there in the Nevin Center,” Brown said. “And so to be actually on the ballot and to be able to cast my ballot again in the Nevin Center is a full circle moment”

Brown told Richmond Confidential her campaign has volunteers stationed at all three District 1 polling locations, and is offering rides to seniors from the Hacienda Senior Community Center to cast their votes.  

“I feel at the end of this, the voters will, the residents will … have spoken. This is their city. This is their election, ” Brown said.

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East of the Iron Triangle, Willis stood outside of the entrance to the Richmond Veterans Building to greet those walking into the polls and ask for their support — a last-minute effort to connect with voters. He is one of three candidates backed by the Richmond Progressive Alliance, which currently has the majority on the City Council. The city’s voters tend to be divided between those who do and those who don’t support the RPA.

“There’s only been a couple of folks that have brought up RPA ,Richmond Progressive Alliance, and they don’t necessarily support RPA, but they support me,” Willis said. “I think folks just want to know that I’m going to be reasonable and that I’m going to be more open-minded to issues and approachable at the end of the day.” 

Voters in council Districts 1, 5 and 6 are choosing between RPA-backed candidates and those not aligned with the organization whose voice was elevated when the 2020 election tipped the council in favor of its candidates.

Outside of the City Council race, Richmond voters also will be deciding on two ballot measures. Measure J would introduce a primary election, while Measure L would implement ranked-choice voting. Sherri Rivenbark, an administrator in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, voted against ranked-choice. 

“I just think it’s confusing for people. I’m just not a fan of trying to learn something new like that,” she said. “I like it the way it is.” 

At Brickyard Landing, Ken Eifert, who opposed Measure L, agreed. 

“Personally, I think it’s more democratic to have one person running against the other,” he said. 

Measure J, which would establish a primary election for mayoral and City Council races, seemed more popular with many Richmond voters at the polls. Erik Schutter, another Brickyard Landing voter, said that he voted to pass Measure J. 

“I voted for it so that there would be an elimination round,” he said. “I found the voting difficult. Not just for that issue, but in general — to sit down and digest it all then make a decision, in the context of all the rest that’s going on, it’s difficult. It’s a tremendous amount of information.”

However, Eric Armstrong, who also voted at Brickyard Landing, disagreed. He said he was voting for ranked-choice voting and against primaries because he believes they can skew an election. 

“To me, the primaries seem to mess everything up,” he said. “It gives one side an opportunity to get their extremists out because they know that regular people are too busy to go.”

If both Measure J and Measure L pass by a majority, the measure that garners more votes total will determine Richmond’s election process. If neither measure gets over 50% of the vote, the plurality system, which allows multiple candidates to run for the same seat, as is the case this election in District 1, will continue.

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Some poll voters said they were worried about a mail-in vote actually getting counted, so they preferred to vote in person.

Michelle Van dropped off her mail-in ballot at a polling site because a ballot in a previous election was returned to her.

“I think there’s some concern about things happening and mail-in votes potentially not making it,” said Jennifer Diaz-Romero, who voted at Marina Bay Harbor. 

Christian Vento, who also voted in Marina Bay Harbor, said that he and his partner had already voted by mail but did not receive confirmation that their ballots had been processed. 

“We just wanted to make sure with a second provisional vote,” he said. 

Sasha Lynn Higgins, a 19-year-old first-time voter, cast her ballot for Kamala Harris and voted in favor of rank-choice voting. Her anxiety about the process came from the weighty experience of voting for the first time in a hotly contested election. 

“I am kind of scared to see how it turns out — if I voted for nothing or did I vote for the right person?” she said. “I have a nervous feeling. I am nervous because I am a first-time voter. It’s just too many emotions at once.

Higgins was voting at the same time and place as Matthew Evans, who is almost eight decades older than she. He also cast his vote for Kamala Harris, though he seemed to have a more relaxed approach to voting. 

“It’s a good idea to get out of the house and walk a little bit,” he said. 

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In an election where generational divides between parties are clear, Election Day was a multigenerational affair. In San Pablo, Bridget Aronsen brought her young daughter, Willow, to the polls to drop off her family’s ballots. Willow got to drop the ballots in the box, and a poll worker handed her an “I Voted” sticker. Aronsen said having a child to care for shouldn’t stop a person from making it to the polls to vote. 

She turned to her daughter and asked, “Willow, you felt pretty welcome in there, right?” Willow nodded. 

At St. Callistus Church, Michelle Van came with a friend to help care for her young child while she voted inside. Van said that she’d always made voting a priority, though she believes some parents likely miss out on voting due to child care responsibilities.

“I always voted every single year, and I had three kids,” Van said.

Shirley Davis, a longtime resident, said she voted for Brown, and her daughter and granddaughter were on her mind. 

“I told my granddaughter to preregister. She’s 17 and will be ready to vote next year,” Davis said. 

Meanwhile, Richmond resident and Contra Costa College student Shelby Austin was at the ballot box this morning for a different reason: to help her grandmother vote. 

“She’s older, so it’s difficult for her to get out sometimes, and I thought, ‘Why not help her out?’” Austin said. “She’s been talking about this election for a minute, so I wanted to make sure to get her ballot out there.” 

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The Contra Costa County elections website went down for a short period in the early evening. The elections division worked quickly to restore the service around 5 p.m. It briefly went down a second time but was up and running again at 5:30 p.m.

Earlier, in the crisp November air outside the Hilltop Community Church polling station, voters filled out their ballots Tuesday morning with efficiency. Among them was Virgtrese McGee, who said that, as a mother and a woman of color, voting in this election feels like contributing to what could be a momentous event.

She was referring to the prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris, a Bay Area native, to become president of the United States.

“It’s a very historical moment for me as a Black woman, being able to witness such excitement around the possibility of having a woman of color in office. It would mean everything,” McGee said. “I’m raising a daughter, she’s 15 — it just shows the progress we made, and the potential there is for our girls of color.”

For many voters, this is an anxiety-riddled Election Day, with the presidency in the balance, as well as three Richmond City Council seats, a West Contra Costa Unified School District board seat and measures that would change the way local elections are held.

With all that on her mind, Nina Marie Thompson approached the Nevin Community Center polling site with a confident stride and a smile.

“I understand that as a Black person and as a woman, I stand on the shoulders of those who marched for our rights to even be able to vote and have our voice heard. So I vote every time there is an election,” said Thompson, who lives in District 1. “I don’t care what kind of election it is, and my children do the same thing.”

City Council, District 1 boasts the most crowded field —  with Jamelia Brown and Mark Wassberg challenging incumbent Melvin Willis, who is backed by the Richmond Progressive Alliance.  

Thompson said she cast her ballot for Jamelia Brown because she wanted to see change in City Council. 

The Contra Costa County Elections Division will release the first tallies, which will include mail-in ballots, shortly after polls close. The elections office will release the next batch of votes at 9:30 p.m. and the night’s final batch at 1:30 a.m. But only about half of the votes will be tabulated on election night. Mail-in ballots will be accepted for days afterward, as long as they were posted by Nov. 5.

At 5 p.m. Friday, the county will release more results, and it will continue to do so every Friday until the votes are finalized and certified on Dec. 3.

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Richmond Confidential reporters are providing continuous updates throughout the day, including on social media. Follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/RichmondConfidential), X (@riconfidential) and Instagram (@richmondconfidential).

Richmond Confidential will post the results as they come in. You also can track them on the county’s election webpage, and through the county’s social media sites: on X under the hashtag #cocovote, and on Facebook. In addition, results will be reported on Contra Costa Television, which is on Comcast channel 27, Astound channel 32 and AT&T U-Verse channel 99.

Jasmine Ascencio, Minahil Arif, Mariana Best, Emily Evans, Raj Paul Ghusar, Daniella Jiménez, Mitchell Hoy, Andres J. Larios, Victor Ochieng, Riley Ramirez, Wen Shao, Anasooya Thorakkattu, Emily Tenorio Molina, William Woodhams and Bryan Wen contributed to this story.

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