A surge in voters
Election draws dramatic boost in the number of voters in portions of Payette County

By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Sunday, November 9, 2008 12:30 AM PST

Katie Pizza | Argus Observer A local voter walks into Fruitland City Hall Tuesday to cast a vote in the general election. Fruitland voting officials said more voters, and more new voters, arrived at the polls this year to cast a ballot.

Fruitland—The election volunteers manning the voting polls at Fruitland City Hall Tuesday said there were two evident differences between this election and past voting days.

More people and more new voters showed up to cast a ballot, they said.

“It’s been busy,” Fruitland resident Judy Baines, 65, said Tuesday night. “We had a line out the door when we got here.”

Baines said she arrived at around 7:30 a.m., with polls opening at 8 a.m. Many of those waiting outside Fruitland City Hall had been there since 7 a.m., she said.

Fruitland resident Fern Kat, 85, said she believed the reason so many voters came to check their choice this election is because of media attention.

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“It’s been so much on the news that it just got people riled up and coming down here,” she said. 

She also said she has seen a variety of people of all different ages come through Fruitland City Hall’s doors to cast their vote.

“There have been a lot of young voters too,” she said. “A lot of seniors from high school, and we welcome that.”

Some voters cast their ballots not for who they wanted to win, but who they didn’t.

“We voted because we don’t want Barack Obama to be president,” one voter, who refused to give a name said.

Another woman, who did not reveal her choice, said she voted out of concern for the country.

“I voted because I’m concerned about who is going to be running our country for the next four years,” she said. 

Voter Julie Hardy said she cast her vote because of the ability for residents to speak their minds about what is important to them.

“I feel everyone needs to have their voices heard,” she said.

Payette resident and election volunteer Elizabeth Shover, 66, said this is her first election in Idaho, but she has been involved in the election process in Washington and decided to get involved in this one as well.

“This is going to be a big election,” she said. “I thought maybe I could be a part of it.”

She said she believed the presidential election is a big one because of the amount of controversy involved.

Fruitland resident and election volunteer Loriane Sawyer, 70, said this is her first election.

“It’s been pretty busy,” she said.

Sawyer wrote down the names of each voter, as Shover put their ballot into a locked box. Sawyer would then call out the person’s name, informing all in attendance that they voted before offering them a sticker.

“A lot of people voted absentee,” Patti Frates, 75, said, while verifying a voter’s address. “We had to go and do that because we wouldn’t have had time to vote today.”