Local volunteers help polls run smoothly
By Eliav Appelbaum eliav@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers PRIMARY- Camarillo resident Paige Hibbits volunteers as a poll inspector at the Camarillo Community Center on Tuesday.

Paige Hibbits greeted all voters on Super Tuesday with a smile.

As the poll inspector at the Camarillo Community Center, Hibbits made sure everything went smoothly, from scheduling volunteers to taking responsibility for voting equipment to ensuring a warm welcome.

Her day started at 6 a.m. and didn't end until 15 hours later, but Hibbits said the long hours volunteering were well worth it on an election day when races in both political parties remained close.

"I love seeing people get in, and I especially enjoy seeing younger voters get out," said Hibbits, a selfemployed accountant. "Every vote really does count. There are some people who don't believe that."

Alex Hong, a senior at Adolfo Camarillo High School who just turned 18 on Jan. 22, is a member of the new crop of voters Hibbits was excited to see walk through the door. Hong, a vice president of the Camarillo Kiwin's Club, volunteered at the Community Center polling place from 6 to 9 p.m.

"You know when you're younger you don't pay attention to politics? Now I'm interested," said Hong, who wants to study business at a University of California school in the fall. "We're in a new generation. There could be a woman president or an African American president. It's real interesting how everything could work out. . . . I also wanted to do this to be involved in the community."

The Kiwanis Club of Camarillo adopted the poll at the Community Center on Burnley Street.

Volunteers Tucky Farrell and Frank Gavaller took a $20 online course to train as a poll worker.

Even though it's a presidential election year, many of the local polls were relatively quiet before 5 p.m.

"I'm really disappointed it's not been busy," said Hibbits, who has been a poll inspector for two years and has volunteered as a poll worker for four. "I'm hoping it will pick up because so much is at stake."

At the United Methodist Church on Anacapa Drive , members of the Democratic Club of Camarillo were volunteering at their adopted poll.

"Working in a poll is basic democracy," said Jack Phillips, president of the club, who volunteered with his wife, Phyllis. "It's an opportunity for citizens to make sure the system works."

Coincidentally, presidential hopeful Barack Obama went to the couple's high school, Punahou High in Hawaii .

When Phyllis Phillips was a little girl living in Manoa Valley, a residential neighborhood in Honolulu, bombs dropped only a few blocks away from her home during the 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Jack Phillips is a Vietnam War veteran.

"There are a lot of new faces. We've had to tell them how to vote," said Phyllis, who has helped out at the polling places for the last three years. "I'm more anxious this year. It's such a close race in the two parties."