Phil Matier: What Happens When You're 1st At The Polls On Election Day?

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— State officials are expecting what could be a record-low voter turnout during this Tuesday's primary election, but what happens when you show up to the polls first?

I actually showed up a couple of minutes early (I had never been first before). Now you don't exactly get a prize, but there is something you have to do that I didn't know about.

They showed me two big bins and had me certify that they were empty (they were), then they took me over to a poll and had me verify that all the numbers were zero at the vote count. Finally they had me check to see that there were no ballots in the spot where you feed them. Then they said it was time for the election to officially start.

Of course the real issue is that there weren't any long lines behind me, but remember— the lower the turnout, the higher the value of everybody's vote. Not to mention, The Bay Area will have a higher voter turnout than the rest of the state, probably even more so than Los Angeles.

That's just one of the reasons why you see so many state Democrats like Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Attorney General Kamala Harris and a host of other Bay Area names on the ballot. It's because this area traditionally turns out to vote.