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Palo Alto's election ballot may be particularly crowded this year, but its pollint places have been mostly empty.

With almost three-fourths of all registered voters choosing mail-in ballots this year, veteran poll workers have been struck by an unusual feeling for Election Day: boredom.

At one precinct after another, poll workers sat patiently near rows of empty voting booths, chatting and waiting for voters to trickle in.

Some had to be particularly patient. A precinct at Lytton Gardens in downtown Palo Alto had only 36 voters fill out ballots on location by 3 p.m.

One of two precincts at 1985 Louis Road in South Palo Alto had just 28 voters stop in to mark their choices as of 4 p.m. -- an average of just 3.5 voters per hour.

The Santa Clara County Registrar's Office reports that about 74 percent of Palo Alto voters requested mail-in ballots, exceeding the average of 71 percent among other jurisdictions holding elections today. Roughly 160,000 ballots were distributed, with about 45,000 being mailed back in as of this morning.

Palo Alto voters received 26,700 mail-in ballots from the county and had returned 7,463 as of today.

The low mail-in response meant coming in to drop off their mail-in ballots has surpassed the number who actually vote by three or four to one, poll workers reported.

Once upon a time, the social interactions between workers and voters played a central role in America's voting experience, with millions of "Norman Rockwell moments" across the nation.

Today, the vast majority of people walked in, dropped off ballots and walked out with little more than a greeting or nod exchanged.

Robert Archibald, an inspector at one of the Louis Road precincts, said the election has felt like one of the slowest in recent history. He attributed it partially to the exclusively local nature of the election and just two items on the ballot: choosing five City Council members out of field of 14 candidates and voting on a proposed business-license tax.

But another reason is the changing behavior of the voters.

"People have always come in to talk, bring their dogs and show their babies," Archibald said. But his polling station had 41 people vote as of 4 p.m.

"We've only had one dog so far, and no babies."

Other poll workers pointed to today's experience as evidence that it may be time to think about conducting the elections exclusively by mail. In Palo Alto, eight precincts have already been designated "mail-only" and have no polling place. In each, fewer than 250 people declined to vote by mail.

Ruth DeVries, a Palo Alto resident who previously worked at polling stations for 30 years, said she understands the appeal of filling out the ballot in advance. DeVries stopped at 1985 Louis Road to drop off her completed ballot.

"In the morning hours and in the evening, when people get out of work, the lines could get long," DeVries said. "It's much easier to just come in and drop off the ballot."

While the sound and bustle of democracy was muted at polling stations based in churches and small community centers, the polling place at Channing House was relatively robust, with 85 people voting as of 3:15 p.m.

Geri Stewart, a poll clerk at Channing House, said the precinct has always boasted upbeat voters, a tradition that has largely continued even as the number of people voting in-person has plummeted.

"We still have people coming in, but the number is noticeably down from previous years," Stewart (long active in League of Women Voters' "get out the vote" efforts) said.

The overly tranquil atmosphere at one polling station prompted some poll clerks to suggest that the physical voting station may be becoming passe, if it isn't already.

John Haynes, a poll inspector at the Grace Lutheran Church precinct on Waverley Avenue, suggested it may be time to consider switching to all-mail elections. His precinct had 50 people come in to vote by 3 p.m.

But Bonnie Bernstein, a voter at the Louis Road precinct, said she isn't buying into the mail-in-ballot hype.

There is something special about "walking the walk to make a statement," Bernstein said,

"I think it would be a tragedy if we had no polling stations," Bernstein said. "This is where I brought my children to learn about democracy."