At John Wayne Airport, Cool Heels or Cast a Vote

One more thing to help kill time at the airport: voting.

On Tuesday, under the bronze statue of John Wayne, with cabs unloading busy passengers at the curb, county election officials announced their latest get-out-the-vote effort by letting airport passengers cast ballots for the Nov. 2 election.

John Wayne Airport is one of 27 Orange County locations -- including malls, grocery stores and city halls -- where registered voters can cast ballots through Oct. 29. And, though early-bird voting at nontraditional locations is not new, letting people vote at the airport is.

The eight electronic voting booths at John Wayne make it the first airport in the nation to offer voting before election day, say county election officials.

Past the airport’s security checkpoints, on the secure side of the terminal, the voting stations are intended to catch passengers who have hustled in, waded through security and suddenly have time to spare.

“It’s a big hassle to get through [airport] security, but once you’re through, you always wait a long time on the other side,” said Registrar of Voters Steve Rodermund. “This matches a person who has the time to vote with a means to vote.”

Early returns on Tuesday were favorable, Rodermund said. Dozens of people cast ballots before boarding their flights. Voters provide their addresses to get ballots tailored to their precincts.

The voting machines are the same electronic tablets that were used in the spring primary.

Unlike the touch-screen voting system used in some other counties, the electronic tablets in Orange County are operated by rotating a dial and pressing an enter key after the candidate’s name is highlighted.

A summary screen gives voters a chance to review their selections before hitting a red “cast ballot” button. A picture of a waving flag signifies a successful vote.

The airport handles roughly 25,000 passengers a day, and Airport Director Alan Murphy, the airport’s director, estimated that at least half of those people are Orange County residents.

“It’s a little different, but it’s fun for us,” Murphy said.

Countywide, about 5,000 people took advantage of the early-voting option for the March primary, and statistics from such voting in other states shows that the number should continue to rise in successive elections, Rodermund said.

Tuesday’s turnout at John Wayne was promising, with dozens of people casting ballots, said Neal Kelley, chief deputy registrar of voters. Before the March primary, the registrar’s office didn’t see such strong numbers until midway through the early-voting campaign.

“This is good for a first day,” Kelley said. He said poll workers at the north and south terminals reported that for every person who cast a ballot, several more stopped to ask questions.

Don Busche, 63, was at the airport Tuesday waiting for a friend behind the security checkpoint. He said he started voting absentee three years ago.

“It’s a good idea to spread it out like that,” he said.

Busche, a San Juan Capistrano resident, said he would use the voting machines in the terminal if he were traveling through John Wayne.

“Anything to avoid the long lines,” he said.

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How to register to vote in O.C.

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The deadline for registering to vote in the Nov. 2 election is Oct. 18. You may register by mailing in one of the forms available at most Orange County government buildings as well as city halls, fire stations, libraries and post offices. For more information, call the Orange County Registrar of Voters at (714) 567-7600, or visit the registrar’s website:

https://voters.ocgov.com/.

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Orange County Registrar of Voters