Record turnout expected as voters surge to polls around Bay Area

A woman marks her ballot at a polling place at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, Calif. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. A woman marks her ballot at a polling place at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, Calif. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 78 Caption Close Record turnout expected as voters surge to polls around Bay Area 1 / 78 Back to Gallery

Voters rushed to the polls in anticipated record numbers around the Bay Area for Tuesday’s midterm elections — many galvanized by frustrations over growing national political tensions and fierce debate over the region’s housing crisis and homelessness.

In polling places ranging from large gymnasiums to cramped home garages, voters were eager to cast their ballots.

Candia Shepherd, who has served as a poll inspector at San Francisco’s Ingleside Branch Library on Ocean Avenue for years, said she’s never seen so many voters show up.

“This has had a steady turnout of people,” she said. “Normally, 7 to 8 a.m. would be the rush. But this morning was busy until 9, slowed for half an hour, and picked up again. There’s so much at stake.”

At City Hall in San Francisco — where voters began filling booths when the polls opened at 7 a.m. — many sat at tables or huddled near corners, looking up different propositions and candidates on their phones.

“We are looking at the highest voter turnout in San Francisco at least since 1974” for a midterm election, said John Arntz, director of the city’s Department of Elections.

As of Tuesday morning, voter turnout was already 28 percent, based on mail-in ballots and ballots cast at the City Hall voting center. Since 1974, the average voter turnout at the last 11 midterm elections was 58 percent, Arntz said.

And the crowds didn’t die down as the day progressed. “There’s still a line out to get in through security,” Arntz said later Tuesday.

Across the bay, Contra Costa County elections officials were seeing similar numbers and also expected the highest midterm election turnout in decades.

“Voters are voting earlier in greater numbers than what we experienced back in 2014,” said Scott Konopasek, the assistant registrar with the county. “It’s almost on par with November 2016.”

In Alameda County, voter turnout was expected to reach 70 percent, compared with 45 percent in the midterms in 2014, said Tim Dupuis, the county registrar.

Daniel Bettelon, 54, voting at the Ingleside library, said even though he has never missed an election, including the midterms that many people skip, this one isn’t merely important.

“It’s REALLY important,” he said. “It’s to thwart Trump and limit what he can do.”

Vaishali Ravi, 25, said she’s never seen so many celebrities pushing people to vote in the run up to the election. She said her social media timelines had been constantly filled with information about how to register.

“I notice my peers shaming each other into voting,” she said before dropping her backpack to be checked at security at San Francisco City Hall.

Sweyn Venderbush said he felt like there was a “grassroots emphasis to voting” in a way he hadn’t seen before through social media.

“It’s not just about casting a ballot, it’s about casting an informed ballot,” the 22-year-old said.

Venderbush said it was important for him to show up to vote on city ballot measures like Proposition C and state Proposition 10.

Prop. C would raise taxes on big businesses to fund homeless services. The measure set off debates between the city’s ultra rich, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who squabbled on social media over the legislation.

Prop. 10 would allow for the expansion of rent control, creating a debate between developers and some renter advocates, with millions spent by groups on either side.

“I don’t think people are just voting Democrat or Republican,” Venderbush said. “They’re thinking deeper about issues that are more complex.”

In the Richmond District, poll workers at the San Francisco Columbarium & Funeral Home had to quickly set up an overflow table outside to manage the number of absentee ballots being dropped off.

Every five minutes, a neighbor walked in, grabbed a ballot to fill out by hand and fed it to the electronic machine.

Thea Hashagen, 42, took bites from a croissant inside the funeral home’s gilded walls as she placed an “I Voted” sticker on her navy blue vest, a sharp red-and-blue contrast to her otherwise all-black outfit. She said it mirrored how she felt about the political climate.

“2016 was a wake-up call,” Hashagen said.

Chronicle staff writer Nanette Asimov contributed to this story.

Sarah Ravani and Gwendolyn Wu are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com, gwendolyn.wu@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani, @gwendolynawu