Early Voting Begins In Region (Press Enterprise 051406) BETTER GET OUT TO VOTE WHILE YOU CAN!! IT IS IMPORTANT!!!!

Those of you who have a hard time getting in to Vote. Here is the perfect opportunity to get in and Vote. It is important to Express your Opinion in some way, so why not be getting out to vote.

BSRancher

Early voting begins in region

TOUCH-SCREEN MACHINES: Inland-area residents can now cast electronic ballots for the June 6 election.

10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, May 13, 2006

By GREGOR McGAVIN
The Press-Enterprise

EARLY VOTING Voters in the Inland area can cast early votes at the following locations: RIVERSIDE COUNTY Riverside County office at 2724 Gateway Drive, Riverside. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The county's traveling vote-mobile will be at the Simpson Center, 305 E. Devonshire Ave., Hemet, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday. Additional stops are listed on the registrar's Web site at http://www.voteinfo.net/ Early voting will be available at the Galleria at Tyler, the Promenade in Temecula and UC Riverside's Palm Desert campus from Saturday to May 28, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY San Bernardino County office at 777 E. Rialto Ave., San Bernardino. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Early voting will be available May 22 to 25 at Cal State San Bernardino, Upland City Hall and Hesperia City Hall. All three sites are open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the CSU site will remain open until 6 p.m. May 23 and 24.

Democracy was in action Saturday at the Mission Trail Library in Wildomar -- even if it did get off to a slow start.

The parking lot of the library off Interstate 15 was the one place Inland-area residents could go this weekend for early voting in the June 6 primary election. There sat Riverside County's vote-mobile -- a 34-foot traveling polling place that lets voters cast their ballots using the latest in voting technology.

By 1 p.m., a total of four voters had shown up.

"It's kind of a slow day," said Steve Perrotte, one of three county registrar of voters employees staffing the vote-mobile.

The few who did take advantage of the early voting opportunity had nothing but good things to say about the process.

Both Riverside and San Bernardino counties are now using touch-screen voting machines with paper printers attached. They allow voters to review their choices on a paper printout displayed behind glass before casting their ballots electronically.

Frank Bellino / The Press-Enterprise Edith Stafford, front, of Lake Elsinore, and Barbara Reiner, of Canyon Lake, vote in Riverside County's vote-mobile, a traveling polling place that lets people vote using the latest in voting technology.

"It's going to be a bit slower, but I'm assuming it will be better all around," said Judith Tallman, 66, of Lake Elsinore.

Tallman was one of several people who stopped to vote after attending a training session at the library for poll workers on using the new voting machines.

"I figured I wasn't going to be able to vote on voting day," said Barbara Reiner of Canyon Lake, who will also be working the polls on election day.

Reiner, 62, said the new setup makes electronic voting easy for even those who are less than tech-savvy.

"It's real easy to change if you make a mistake," she said. "I'm not computer-literate at all, but this is simple."

Voting officials in both counties said the new machines and early voting opportunities are making it easier for Inland residents to cast their votes.

Early voting is available Monday through Friday at registrar's offices in both Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and both offices will be open for voting on June 3, a Saturday.

In the two weeks leading up to the election, residents will be able to vote early at colleges, malls and other sites throughout the Inland area.

"This gives them the opportunity to cast their vote at a time that's convenient for them," said Kari Virgil, San Bernardino County's registrar of voters.

Rebecca Martine, assistant Riverside County registrar, said the new process also would make it harder for anyone to illegally sell his or her vote, because voters leave with no slip of paper to show which way they voted, she said.

"I did my patriotic duty -- I voted," Edith Stafford, 70, said as she stepped out of the vote-mobile.

The Lake Elsinore resident, who had just undergone poll-worker training on the new machines, said she wasn't about to miss the chance to put the training to use.

"I already had my mind made up. Now I don't have to worry about it anymore," she said.

Reach Gregor McGavin at (909) 806-3069 or gmcgavin@PE.com