San Diegans express views on Tuesday’s Primary Election

Granted, it’s not a General Election, so we don’t see the usual avalanche of television advertisements and mailers, but that said, KUSI hit the streets to find out why this election seems to have generated such lukewarm interest. It may be election day, but it doesn’t mean much to a lot of San Diegans.

“To me, I don’t personally care for it,” said one San Diego resident.

At the trolley station in Old Town, Michael Cuarisma – who works with the disabled – summed it up simply:

“Some people just don’t care, they don’t care at all.”

But why the apathy? At a supermarket in Mira Mesa, KUSI talked with Lee Thomas, retired from a job in the medical data field. She says she’s fed up with politicians.

“They say certain things, and then when they come into office, it doesn’t happen and it’s just frustrating. And so just come to say to myself ‘well, whatever happens will happen. I pray for the best.'”

Lee’s companion, Carl, says he doesn’t believe his single vote can make much difference.

“If you do vote, it doesn’t come out the way it’s supposed to, or the way you think it’s going to. So, at this point, the politicians here are not good at all.”

On University Avenue in City Heights, KUSI talked with David Garcia, who works with low-income youth in a jobs program. Garcia lives in National City and says this Primary Election hardly registered on his radar.

“I wasn’t sure when or how or what to vote, really. So, I’m a little lost in that case.”

We also met Deion Jackson, a musician who lives in North Park.

“Don’t do something that you don’t know what you’re doing.You know what I mean? You don’t know who you’re voting for, you don’t know anything. You can mess the whole world up if you vote for the wrong person.”

At 22-years-old, Deion doesn’t know how voting for a particular candidate would affect him.

“I didn’t see no changes… even last year, I didn’t see no changes with me personally. So, you know, it is what it is.”

Jessica and Jason Nelson live in City Heights; Jason votes, Jessica doesn’t.

“My vote doesn’t even count,” said Jessica. “It’s not even going to get through, and it’s just a waste of time.”

Jason told KUSI he didn’t cast a ballot in this election because none of the issues would have an impact on him.

“Either directly or indirectly, and there are measures that I really don’t see as beneficial to the city.”

KUSI stumbled on a couple with a very different story at Mission Bay Park: Harry and Aida Bucon are from Julian.

“We’ve got our ballots to turn in right now,” said Harry.

“Here they are!” Proclaimed Aida.

We heard them talking about finding a polling place to drop off their Primary ballots. Aida and Harry Bucon – both in their 80s – say they’ve almost never missed the opportunity to vote. When asked if they believe if their vote counts in their eyes, the Aida responded:

“That’s wrong. Our votes do count. And it’s not good to sit and do nothing – and then complain!”

“We need to vote and get into people ‘we want to support our views.’ If you don’t vote, they won’t get in. It’s always important to vote, otherwise you can’t complain about the people that get in office,” concluded Harry.