Hundreds of voters packed the hallway of the Sacramento County Elections Office as the final hour to vote ticked away Tuesday evening.
County elections officials said they were seeing similar crowds of last-minute voters at polling places, and that turnout would likely equal or surpass November 2008, when 80 percent of the county's registered voters cast ballots.
"There are a lot of emotions [in this election] so we're seeing a lot of last-minute voters," said Carol Hendrickson, executive secretary for the elections office. Many were casting provisional ballots because they had recently changed addresses and not updated their registrations, she said.
"It's unbelievable. We just got a huge wave," added Brad Buyse, campaign services manager for the county. "We believe we're going to have a very healthy turnout, and obviously we want the turnout to be high."
Last-minute voter Latonya Burns made her way to the end of the line with three minutes to spare before the 8 p.m. cutoff. She wanted to cast her ballot earlier Tuesday evening, but with an hour-long wait time and a line out the door, she decided to go back home and start making dinner for her children.
She returned just in time, and was ready to have her voice heard. "If we want good things to happen to our country, we need to get out and vote," Burns said. "Every vote counts."
