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Turnout was heavy in South Berkeley Tuesday, with voters lined up outside the Black Repertory Theater on Adeline Street even before polls opened. 

And just down the block, at the corner of Adeline and Harmon streets, another line was waiting to start making calls across the country from the Northern California headquarters of the Barack Obama campaign. 

Long after midnight, when the final speeches had been made and the final punditry had been dispensed over the big- screen televisions in neighborhood hangouts, the streets were still filled with the sounds of honking horns and cheers from a jubilant neighborhood, elated at the victory of the nation’s first African-American president. 

“We’ve had a great big turnout,” said Lani Borgwardt, who served as inspector at one of the precincts voting in the Black Rep. “Everything’s been busier than in the past elections, and I see a lot of enthusiasm. People are excited,” she said. 

“I’ve been here since six o’clock,” said Darnell Johnson, a volunteer at the Obama headquarters late Tuesday morning. “It really got busy about 6:05,” he said. 

Ruby Reid, a site coordinator at the headquarters, said “We’ve had hundreds of volunteers at the site every day. Today we’re doing get-out-the-vote calls.” 

Democratic Party volunteers were making arrangements to bring voters to the polls. 

“You should have been here Saturday,” Borgwardt said. “The whole street was lined with people making calls on their cell phones.” 

For Sean Vaughn Scott, the Black Rep’s development director, Tuesday’s election held a special resonance. 

High on a wall above the table where precinct volunteers sat checking off voters and handing out ballots is a black-and-white photo from 1972. 

The image features a 6-year-old Scott and his parents standing with Shirley Chisholm, who sought the Democratic nomination that year. George McGovern, the eventual victor, was handily defeated by incumbent Republican Richard Nixon. 

Grandson of the theater’s founders and son of the woman who founded the Black Studies program at the University of San Francisco, Scott said this year’s election has a special meaning for him. 

While the Black Rep has hosted elections almost since its founding 44 years ago, “this year the turnout has been exponentially larger,” he said. “The beauty of it is that it’s really galvanized the community.” 

Even before the polls had closed, a crowd had gathered at La Pena on Shattuck Avenue to watch election returns and Adeline Street was alive with jubilant Obama supporters. 

The exuberant sounds were still resonating through the streets at midnight. 

Max Anderson, the nighborhood’s city councilmember, was also handily re-elected in a race in which he faced no challengers on the ballot. 

Offered congratulations, he replied. “Thanks, but it was the presidential race that really gives me hope.”