Every voter has a story: Santa Barbara residents show up in person to vote on recall election
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - When Sandor Juhasz voted he felt proud. The voter from Hungary just became a citizen.
The Santa Barbara resident said this was his first time to vote in the United States.
He dropped his ballot in the box and said he was going to go have dinner and celebrate.
Jaime Berg had an "I Voted" sticker on and after dropping her ballot in the official box outside the Santa Barbara County Elections office she hula hooped and waved to people driving into one of the 54 county polling places.
Joseph Colunga of Goleta said he wanted to come in person so someone could watch him sign his ballot.
Colunga said he is blind and wanted to make sure his vote counted.
Sharon Van Gundy came early in the day just to watch what was going on.
Van Gundy said she is a volunteer with the Santa Barbara Election Integrity group.
She plans to stay until polls close.
Santa Barbara County Registrar of Voters Joe Holland recommended people sign up for Ballot Tracks.
"It notifies you when your ballot is mailed to you, it notifies you when it has been received by the Elections Office and then it notified you when it has been counted, it is pretty cool."
There were watch parties, too.
Some people in favor of the recall got together at the Santa Barbara Courthouse Tavern while others opposed to the recall plan to watched the returns at the on their iphones at the Cruisery on State Street.
