Election Day 2020
Today is the final day of voting in the 2020 election. Polls in San Diego county open at 7 this morning. As of last night, the registrar reported receiving more than 1.1 million ballots from early voters. There are 1.95 million registered voters in the county. KPBS is following today's voting, and we will bring you updates on how things are going at the polls throughout the day and on into the evening. We’ll also have early results that come in overnight on wednesday morning. The Vista Unified School District has shifted three more schools to online learning for two weeks, after more COVID-19 cases were reported among students and staff. The change affects Vista High School, Madison Middle School and Roosevelt Middle School. In an online update posted at the end of last week, the district said 13 students and one staff member have tested positive for COVID-19 since in-person learning resumed on October 20. The district said all cases were contracted outside of the school environment. The observance of the Day of the Dead wrapped up on Monday, and this year it was a little different. The annual Latino tradition took on a special meaning in San Diego as traditional altars were filled with pictures of people lost to Covid 19. Lauri Saldana (sal-DON-ya) is a former assemblywoman and co-creator of the Covid 19 victims memorial project. She said this year their altars included information on the virus. "We've added an educational element to them. And some of the items we put on the alters... we put masks on the skulls. We've reminded people with backdrops that not everyone is affected by this. Essential workers are being killed more often by this virus than other people in San Diego." The coronavirus pandemic has hit Latinos especially hard… with the Latino community here accounting for 62% of total positive coronavirus cases and 50% of deaths. It’s Tuesday, November 3rd. You’re listening to San Diego News Matters from KPBS News. I’m Anica Colbert. Stay with me for more of the local news you need to start your day. KPBS’ Steve Walsh is down at the polls this morning as they opened. He’s called in to talk to KPBS’ local Morning Edition Host Deb Welsh, to report in on what it looks like out there…here’s that interview. .... That was KPBS’ Steve Walsh, reporting in this morning around 7:45am about what it looks like at the polls. Stick with KPBS throughout today and on into the evening to get the latest on the election. The pandemic has spurred record-setting gun sales across the nation.. now gun store operators say fears of riots and the contentious election cycle are driving sales. kpbs reporter Matt Hoffman explains. Over the last few months San Diego county gun stores have seen big increases in sales- at first due to coronavirus concerns, but now that's changing-- It originally started with the pandemic then it went into with a lot of the riots people got scared about that and now with the elections coming up and more riots we have been nonstop since march Danielle Jaymes is the general manager of poway weapons and gear. She says normally during election cycles they see upticks in sales.. But this is different and right now they're having a hard time keeping products on the shelves. We have seen a huge increase in first time buyers we've had to ad a ton more classes to accommodate those first time buyers Poway Weapons and Gear has more than doubled their amount of trainers to keep up with demand. Matt Hoffman, KPBS News. Hospitals plan year round for disasters that could send a wave of patients their way. And the tensions around election day have them on high alert. KPBS health reporter tarryn mento tells us how hospitals are planning for emergency events they hope don't happen. The job of Monique Imroth is to always be ready for worst case scenarios. She's the director of emergency management at UC San Diego Health. No one wishes they were wrong more often than me, right, but that said, the leaders of this organization depend on me and my team to say we think this could be a problem. That includes wildfires, a COVID-19 surge and this year, the election. Imroth... who also co-chairs the San Diego Healthcare Disaster Coalition… says hospitals are prepared in case any demonstrations turn violent. There could be crush injuries all the way up to knifing or gunshots that could induce trauma. So we're prepared for all of those challenges. She says the region's providers are staying in touch to meet both routine and emergency needs in case of any major event. Tarryn Mento. KPBS News. On Monday, Faith and community leaders united with former gang members from across San Diego … in a public effort to call for "A Season of Peace." KPBS reporter Jacob Aere has more on what this will look like during a pandemic. The Season of Peace Campaign asks gangs to agree to stop shootings from Thanksgiving through January 1, 2021. Alberto Vasquez is with the Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention, and says he is a real life example that reform is possible. "It has become normalized for us to grow up in communities with gangs and violence. We are here to lift a message of hope." This is the eighth year that the Community Assistance Support Team has brought their service efforts to individuals and families impacted by gun violence. The campaign will also include community walks of peace, street side memorial services, faith sponsored "peace meals" and organized outreach. Jacob Aere, KPBS News. Coming up on the podcast….American Legions across the country have been a meeting place for veterans and their families. But then the pandemic happened. "We have about 423 posts in California, and I'm fairly certain... that a good 20 percent of them are in danger of financially having to close their doors." That story next just after this break. The meeting halls and lounges of American Legion posts across the country serve as community hubs for veterans and their families. But during the pandemic, many have had to shut their doors or scale back what they do. That's meant a big hit to some posts' bottom line - and forced them to find new ways to raise money. From Los Angeles, Robert Garrova reports for the American Homefront Project. SHIMAMOTO: "First of all, thanks everyone for coming out, give yourselves a round of applause. Coming out and supporting American Legion Post 397!" [Notes:cheers] That's comedian Scott Shimamoto, coming to you from the parking lot of Monterey Park, California's Post 397. On a recent Saturday night, this post put on a physically distanced outdoor comedy show, complete with a stage, emcee... PADILLA: "I helped with getting the DJ and the taquero here." John Padilla helped organize this event. He's not a veteran, but he's been coming to this post since his friend, a Vietnam Vet, first invited him. PADILLA: "I know it's been difficult for them because they're used to having a big audience here and having their friends, veterans. Their daily life, their routine, has been disrupted." Gabriel Suarez has been commander of this post for the past decade. It's got about 70 members now. Pre-pandemic, Suarez says this post would host parties almost every weekend. It's the kind of place veterans could grab a drink, enjoy a meal and swap stories over a game of pool. It's been hard not having community gatherings as often as they used to. Suarez motions to a water feature behind us that has gone dry... SUAREZ: "Every veteran would sit right there and just listen to the babbling of the water until they fell asleep. And most of them did with a cigar in their hand. It's just those little things. We provide a home environment." Tonight's show is about camaraderie, sure. But it's also about keeping the lights on. Billed as a fundraiser event, money generated tonight will go towards helping the post compensate for the hit it's taken since the pandemic has frozen bar sales, hall rentals and other sources of income. SUAREZ: "Yes, there's a big necessity for fundraising for our building. We need to keep our building open so we're able to do the food banks, so we're able to invite our comics out tonight. Paul Brown is adjutant for the American Legion Department of California. BROWN: "We have about 423 posts in California, and I'm fairly certain... that a good 20 percent of them are in danger of financially having to close their doors due to the losses that they've incurred due to this pandemic." Brown says what local posts here in California are feeling is probably not too much different from the restaurant industry, especially as they feel the whiplash from state reopening guidance which has changed over the last several months. BROWN: They're trying to adapt, they're trying to modify, they're trying to overcome the situation, survive it." It's hard to get a sense of just how much the pandemic has affected the more than 12,000 posts across the country. But... STOFFER: "We are definitely concerned about it." Jeff Stoffer is Director of media and communications at the Legion's headquarters in Indiana. STOFFER: "A lot of posts have just basically converted what they were doing towards different purposes." That's meant comedy nights like the one I went to... Or a drive-in movie theater at a post in Hollywood. Michael Hjelmstad is vice commander of Hollywood's Post 43. HJELMSTAD: "Because we've had to be innovative, we've had to figure out how to modernize a lot of American Legions. The American Legion, historically, is not real fast to take to change and new technology and things like that. So this has kind of forced us to really step up in ways that would have taken us a lot longer." And that, Hjelmstad says, may be one silver lining on the cloud of this pandemic. I'm Robert Garrova, in Los Angeles. That was Robert Garrova, reporting from Los Angeles. This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans. Funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That’s it for the podcast today, thanks for listening and have a great day.
