Oakland residents express satisfaction over exercising their right, responsibility to vote
It was a steady weekend at the local elections offices with early voters stopping by to pick up and drop off ballots.
And some local races are getting a lot of attention, from the San Francisco mayoral race to the Silicon Valley congressional seat to the two recalls in Alameda County.
In Oakland, people who voted over the weekend said they felt good to have done their part.
"Don't have to worry about the text messages and the ads anymore. Definitely some nervousness about how the results are going to go," said Alameda County voter Ambre Moton.
"In order to see our son, we drove 1,100 miles to Santa Fe, New Mexico. In order to vote, we drove three days, five and a half to six hours a day, to get back in time to vote. That's how important it is," said voter Helen Campbell.
Oakland voters said the big races for them are the two recalls of Mayor Sheng Thao and District Attorney Pamela Price.
"I actually kept Pamela Price. And I voted against Sheng Thao," said Oakland voter Connie Burgin.
"As a person that's been formerly incarcerated, as first, I believed that our local D.A. was doing good job. But then I read just recently that she allowed someone to be released or is going to be released that (was connected to) four homicides," said Edward Ontiveros, who voted to recall Price.
"I voted against recalling of the mayor. I think it's kind of a waste of public money," said Oakland voter Gina Melekh.
"The enormous amount of money to do a recall and then picking up the pieces afterwards. So I voted no on recall," said Campbell, who said no to both recalls.
Californians can register and vote on the same day at their local elections office. They just have to do it before Tuesday 8 p.m.