Election 2004: Record voter registration; surge in registration by young Election 2004: Record voter registration; surge in registration by young (November 03, 2004)

A record number of San Mateo County residents are registered to vote in the election today (Tuesday, November 2), Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum reported Friday.

The 368,410 registered-voter count tops the previous high of 355,053 for the 1996 general presidential election, and is 12 percent higher than registration for the March 2004 primary.

There has been a surge in registration by young people. A total of 32,941 are registered in the 18-to-24 age group, up 72 percent from March, Mr. Slocum reported.

Both Democratic and Republican registrations increased 10 percent from March. The Democratic total is 180,702, and the Republican is 94,418. Those who declined to state a party affiliation increased 19 percent to 79,347.

Voter information

On election day, Tuesday, November 2, polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

To find your polling place, check the back of the county Sample Ballot publication mailed to registered voters.

Information is also available on the county's Web site, www.shapethefuture.org, and the League of Women Voters' site, www.smartvoter.org.

At smartvoter.org, you can enter your address and get your polling place address and information about the candidates and measures on your ballot.

Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum points out:

** All registered San Mateo County voters who have applied for and received an absentee ballot by mail, may return the marked ballot at any polling place within the county until 8 p.m. on election night.

** Other registered voters who have not applied for an absentee ballot and find themselves unable to vote at their assigned polling place may vote by absentee ballot, but only at one of the two Elections Division offices: 40 Tower Road in San Mateo, or 555 County Center in Redwood City.

** If you lose the absentee ballot sent to you, you can still vote. You can go to your polling place or to the Elections Division offices and vote a provisional ballot.

Getting results Tuesday night

The public is invited to mingle at the San Mateo County's Election Division's headquarters at 555 County Center in Redwood City. Periodic vote reports, Internet access, and television coverage will be provided, along with light refreshments, said Mr. Slocum.

Elections staff will be on hand to answer questions.

Here are more details provided by the county Elections Division:

** Getting there: The address -- 555 County Center -- is on the corner of Middlefield Road and Bradford Street (now known as County Center Street). There will be free street parking in front of 555 County Center. The best access is via Veterans Boulevard: Turn onto Jefferson, then turn right on Bradford, cross Middlefield and park.

** Parking. Additional parking will be available in the adjacent garage or lots, which are accessed from Veterans Boulevard with a turn onto Middlefield -- a right-hand turn puts you in the lots and the garage. (Traffic has been rerouted due to the Peterson trial.)

** Reporting schedule: All polling sites will close at 8 p.m. on election night. The first vote report will be issued at 8:05 p.m., reflecting only absentee votes. The next report at 8:30 p.m. will include vote counts from the 22 precincts where all voters cast their ballots by mail. Beginning at 9 p.m., and every 30 minutes thereafter, the reports will include available vote counts from individual precincts, until all precincts have reported.

** Online reports. These periodic reports will be available online at the San Mateo County Elections Office Web site at www.shapethefuture.org. Reports will be posted shortly after the times listed above.

** Elections staff assistance. Until precinct reporting is complete on election night, staff will be available to answer questions. The Elections Division office at 40 Tower Road in San Mateo is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, go to www.shapethefuture.org or call 312-5222.

Election night buzz at Media Center

Residents who've still got the election bug after going to the polls on November 2 may wish to keep the buzz going by being part of the studio audience at the Midpeninsula Community Media Center's "Election Central" program.

The televised election-night coverage is scheduled to run from 10 p.m. to midnight, with candidates, supporters and analysts commenting on the results as they roll in.

Several local races will be featured, including the Menlo Park City Council and state Assembly District 21 contests. The event will be shown live on Channel 27, where it can be viewed by residents of Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Stanford.

The Media Center, which operates two government and three non-commercial community cable channels, is at 900 San Antonio Road in Palo Alto. For more information, call the Media Center at 494-8686.

Stanford to host post-election panel

Stanford University's Aurora Forum program is hosting a post-election discussion of the presidential election with a panel of Stanford scholars and Amy Goodman, the host of "Democracy Now," which airs weekdays on KPFA radio at 6 and 9 a.m. The forum is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 4, at Kresge Auditorium on the Stanford campus.

Almanac report

This issue of the Almanac went to press Monday night, November 1. The results of the November 2 election will be reported online -- AlmanacNews.com and PaloAltoOnline.com -- and in the next print edition of the Almanac.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.