Well Primary night was fun.
It appears that gloomy predictions that Democrats would be shut out of Congressional races did not come to pass. Sadly, State Senator Josh Newman will be packing up his office in Sacramento as voters unfairly took out their frustrations on the new gas tax on him. Voters in Irvine overwhelmingly rejected Measures B and D. And a significant number of DPOC-endorsed candidates did not fare well in elections for sheriff, district attorney, assessor, Irvine ballot measures and certain Congressional races.
But the vote counting is far from over. Per the Voice of OC and Neal Kelly, about one-third of votes cast in Orange County have yet to be counted. So the close race for Fourth District Supervisor and for the #2 spot in CD-48 are too close to call. Recounts are almost certain in both races once official results are in.
From the Voice of OC story:
The election saw “record numbers for a midterm primary,” he added.
The estimated number of yet-to-be-counted ballots after election night – 188,488 – would push the county’s voter turnout to 37.6 percent.
Voter turnout in the most recent mid-term primaries – in 2006, 2010 and 2014 – were 27.6 percent, 30 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
The large share of uncounted ballots could end up affecting the outcomes of races that were close as of the end of election night, when two-thirds of the total estimated number of ballots were reported.
The last election night update from Kelley’s office reported the results of 369,267 ballots.
Kelley estimated there were 188,488 ballots still remaining to count after the last election night update. That brings the total estimated ballots in the election to 557,755, of which one-third have yet to be counted and reported.
The largest estimated share of the ballots remaining to count is vote-by-mail ballots turned in at the polls (82,220), followed by vote-by-mail ballots (50,000), provisional ballots (45,500), and Election Day paper ballots (10,768).
Go to www.ocvote.com for updates over the next several days.
In elections where Democrats squared off, it’s time to get behind the voter’s choice especially if the ultimate goal is replacing Republicans.