Slow day at the polls

Even though Monte Vista Elementary School, 1615 W. Eldred Ave. in West Covina served as a polling place for two precincts, one poll worker described the day as a vacation. Combined, only 141 people cast their votes.

By 1 p.m., inspector James Nguyen said that only 76 voters had turned out at his precinct. Chip Holmes, inspector for the other precinct at the school, recorded 65 voters. At that rate, Holmes predicted it would be a total turnout of about 12 percent.

"A day like today is easy on everybody," said Holmes, who has worked the polls for the past seven years.

Over at the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control at at 1145 N. Azusa Canyon Road in West Covina, Denise Yarbarough of Montclair sat in a voter-less room at 1:30 p.m.

What's it been like today for her?

"Slow," she said.

About 80 ballots had been cast out of the 1,500 registered voters in the precint, coming out to 5 percent of registered voters.

There was a slight rush when the polls opened at 7 a.m., but that quickly died down. The polls close at 8 p.m.

"There have been others that have been slow like this," said Yarbarough, who has served as a pollworker for nearly 12 years. "It all depends on what's on the ballot."