I just got home from working th polls in SoCal. My precinct is in the San Fernando Valley, close to Cal State Northridge. If you want a little up close and personal, follow me below the fold...
I am bushed, and I have to get up at 5:00 a.m. in the morning so I can have eye surgery. But I thought some Kossacks might like to hear from someone who worked the polls and saw what happened from the ground.
First, the precinct I worked is in Northridge CA and very near Cal State Northridge. It is a mix of fairly expensive homes, apartments, and student housing. This is the third or fourth time I have worked this precinct. Dem and Repub registration is pretty well split, with a lot of non-partisan voters. The Republican primary was closed, only registered Republicans could vote. The Democratic primary was open to independents.
There was a pretty heavy Dem tunout, but the indie vote was even heavier. The really good news; a lot of college students voted, either by regular ballot or by provisional ballot. I worked the provisional desk most of the day, and there were many students who willingly waited for several minutes to get their ballots, fill out the necessary information, and vote. There was also a very heavy turnout of first-time voters, and not all of them were students. I observed a substantial number of new citizens very excited to be voting the first time, and almost all of them were voting Dem. There were also many more black voters than I have ever seen before and they ALL voted Democratic.
A couple other observations; many more young women voted than young men. Republican voters seemed to be there out of a sense of duty, and most (not all) of them were older voters. The Democrats and Indies were much more enthusiastic and charged up. There were a number of Republicans who were disappointed that they could not vote in the Democratic primary. We ran out of boter registration cards early. Many indies wanted to change registration, most of them very young indies.
All in all, I think this all bodes well for Dems if this same scenario is played out in other areas. You all have a great week, and I'll be back in a couple of weeks.