S.B. Hosts Polling Site for French Presidential Election

Santa Barbara might be the American Riviera, but on Saturday it played host to a polling site for the French presidential elections. S.B. county is home to 518 French citizens who previously needed to travel to L.A. to vote. Expatriate and Prudential real estate agent Pascale Bassan, however, convinced the L.A.-based French Consulate to let her run a polling station at her employer’s offices on Upper State. Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande ousted incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, but of the 151 people who voted in Santa Barbara, Sarkozy won by a two-to-one margin.