It's about
7:30 a.m. in Bakersfield, Calif., and the skies are clearing
after an overnight rain. I'm standing in the parking
lot at the Kern County Fairgrounds with Juan Cerda, a
24-year-old volunteer with the No on 8 campaign. A
budget analyst for Kern County, the born-and-raised
Bakersfield boy has taken the day off to make sure No on 8
has a presence as voters walk into the polling place.
The
fairgrounds' Harvest Hall building, a simple
corrugated-metal structure, is the location for 14
voting precincts in east Bakersfield, the
predominantly working-class and Democratic leaning-area of
the city of over 310,000. Located about two hours
northeast of Los Angeles, in California's
agriculturally dominant (and notoriously conservative,
culturally) Central Valley, Bakersfield is ground zero for
Yes on 8 support.
"It's my community here," Cerda says as
a steady stream of voters pull in and out of the
parking lot. Earlier that morning a polling official came
outside and measured out 100 feet from the entrance of
Harvest Hall for Cerda and his volunteers.
"We're fine up until the grass," he
explained, pointing out a median splitting the parking
lot from a lane of traffic in front of the hall.
Cerda thinks that
this is the best place in town to make an impact, since
he estimates 3% of the vote on Proposition 8 is still
undecided. He and his volunteers have been milling
about the parking lot, gently handing out No on 8
flyers and encouraging voters to vote no.
"There are
a percentage of supporters who are confused about what a
'no' vote means," he said. "We want to
make sure we are minimizing that wrong voting."
So far the
turnout of volunteers has been good. Besides five or six
volunteers in the parking lot, another three or four people
stand outside the parking lot, waving a variety of
homemade and official No on 8 signs.
"I'm expecting about 15 people today
-- some people all day, some for a couple
hours," he said. "But I'd really like
to have at least 20." (Christopher Lisotta,
The Advocate)