West County Votes

Americans of all colors, tribes, genders and stripes stopped by local precincts to drop off their ballots or vote in person.

Voting stations at the Guerneville Library. (All photos by Ezra Wallach)

Around the county, people voted. Some went to the Graton Community Center, where Nick Caston, the precinct’s inspector (a.k.a. the one in charge), gave me the lowdown on the set-up.

There was a backup power box in case of an outage, headphones for those with bad vision, a translation service for those who only speak a foreign language, and a control box for those who may have trouble moving.

There was also a printer that could produce a ballot for any precinct located in Sonoma County, so that if you lived in Santa Rosa, but worked in Graton, you could vote in Graton during your lunch break. Today, any Sonoma County resident could bring in a completed ballot or could vote in person at any one of 30 different locations, all of which have been open for at least four days (a handful have been open for 11).

As a result of new guidelines and technology, it is safe to say that voting is easier now than ever. According to Bill Sauber, a clerk at the Graton precinct who has volunteered at voting centers around the country for the last two decades, the process is also as secure as it has ever been.

“When you sit through the process and see how secure it is, it makes you confident,” Sauber said. “Everything is double checked. I feel confident telling other people the election is secure.”

Sauber was joined in Graton by Steve Garcia and other volunteers who took pride in their support of democracy.

“This is a family tradition for me,” Garcia said. “And somebody has to do it.”

Volunteers at each precinct have spent the better part of four or more days with each other.

Clerks at the Forestville precinct.

Outside the Graton precinct—my first stop of the five precincts around the West County region—I spoke to Spencer Arnold, who said he voted “because it makes a difference.”

“Our vote for president doesn’t matter as much, but there are a lot of other important measures,” he said.

Spencer Arnold outside the Graton precinct.

Despite whatever issue or candidate is inspiring the most passion today, some were happy to remind me that it is surely a privilege just to fill in a box at all—or to help others do so.

"I’m not here because this is the biggest election,” said Sherina Flores, a clerk at the Forestville Elementary School precinct and a member of the Wappo tribe. “I just wanted to be part of the process. It took a lot of effort getting to this point. Native Americans were the last ones to vote, so any election is important to me.”

Flores was not the only one thinking about her ancestors.

“I brought my grandmother’s hanky,” said Simone, a woman outside of the Guerneville Library, another one of West County’s voting centers. “When she was born in 1897, women couldn’t vote. She told me to never take this for granted.”

Her grandmother was not the only person Simone had in mind.

“I’m voting because I don’t want a rapist, racist, fascist man in power,” Simone said.

For Simone, “Trump” is like “Voldemort,” the one who shall not be named. For others in West County, “Trump” is the reason they are voting in the first place.

“I voted because of the border,” said Dale Bennett outside the Guerneville library. “The cost of food and gas is killing me. I think Trump can help in a lot of ways that she can’t.”

“I’m a first-time voter, and I’m almost 70,” Bennett added.

The Guerneville Library precinct saw a mix of hippies and construction workers and everything in between—a truly diverse crowd of all shapes and sizes.

“I like to be confident that this is a true process, regardless of who says it is not,” said Naomi Huffstutter, a volunteer at the Guerneville precinct.

Huffstutter was joined as a volunteer by two of her daughters, including Ava, who is a senior at Analy High School.

Naomi Huffstutter with her daughter, Ava.

Those voting at the Bodega Bay Yacht Club looked out towards the ocean as they cast their ballots. Evan Clark, who was working as the bilingual clerk at the Bodega precinct due to his knowledge of both Spanish and English, started volunteering at voting centers in 2020, when older generations were more vulnerable to COVID.

“I was too young to vote, but I wanted to do something,” said Clark.

Heidi Flaherty, another one of the clerks at the Bodega precinct, said she started working for voting centers 20 years ago.

“I feel you have to pay your dues somehow,” Flaherty said.

Clerks were all smiles at the scenic Bodega precinct.

The Bodega precinct was as calm and tranquil as the Sebastopol Center for the Arts was busy.

“We had a line out the door all the way to the parking lot at 7 a.m. today,” said Doug Lee, one of the clerks for the Sebastopol precinct.

At around 2 p.m., when I visited the precinct, there were several people in line and several people voting. Apparently it had been like this all day.

Doug Lee (right) with his fellow clerks—who have all been working for 11 days—at SebArts.

As I wrapped up my tour of West County’s voting stations and as I dropped my own ballot off, I could not help but feel a great sense of belonging—one that I hope will transcend whatever the outcomes of this election are.

Today, I was among equals. Trump and Harris voters, along with those who voted yes on Measure U and those who voted no, were all treated the same. They were given the same ballot, the same responsibility and the same power. So was I.