Super Tuesday In Orange County Shows Strong Voter Turnout

ORANGE COUNTY, CA —Voters headed out to the yellow ballot collection boxes across Orange County on Super Tuesday. With over a week of voting behind, and a full day of ballot collection underway, Tuesday, Orange County voters have stood up to be counted.

Ballot turnouts were running about 40 percent higher than 2016 in Orange County as of Monday, and election officials estimate overall turnout could reach about the mid-60s. Vote-by-mail ballots were on track to beat the 2012 turn-in by 70 percent, Orange County Registrar Neal Kelley said.

Live voter turnout was tracked, showing the busiest places and voting centers with no waiting. On Tuesday, Irvine's City Hall, University California Irvine and Santa Ana College were all experiencing wait times of between 25 and 35 minutes as of 2 p.m. New voter centers were open across the county, allowing voters the chance to have questions answered, fill out and submit ballots, and even register to vote up until that deadline passed.

With several presidential candidates dropping from the race in the eleventh hour, it was unclear if the early voting helped or hindered Democrats in their quest to find a future candidate.

"Some would say that's unfair because everybody gets a vote-by-mail ballot now," Kelley said. "Only 2% of registered voters who have voted in person (over the past few days)."

It's unclear how voter turnout will be affected by a new voter center system in which ballots can be dropped off at 188 centers throughout the county as opposed to precincts, where residents had one place to vote near their home.

Kelley spent Monday urging voters to beat potential Super Tuesday crowds.

"But there are always those people who want to shop on Christmas Eve. You can't do anything about it," Kelley said.

Voting on Monday was "steady, but not crazy," he said. Voters could fill out their ballot at home and drop it off at a voter center.

REAL-TIME RESULTS: Orange County's 2020 Primary Election Races

Statewide, Kelley said voter turnout should be in the 50 percent range. Orange County might see about 65 percent, with most of it coming from vote-by-mail, Kelley said, adding that the new system will also mean faster tabulations of ballots.

Kelley expects to have all of the vote-by-mail ballots cast as of Monday by 8 p.m. Tuesday. By 9 p.m., he plans to have the rest of the votes, including in-person votes on election day, counted.
There won't be many provisional ballots to count anymore because the precinct system was eliminated, Kelley said. The last batch of ballots to be counted will be the ones dropped in mailboxes on election day, Kelley said.

The Institute for Fair Elections handed over affidavits from its volunteers on Monday. They claim that over half of 7,904 voters contacted by that nonprofit were "inaccurate registrants," which included people who are not citizens, don't live at the address anymore, or have some other issue with their status.

"We are doing much more in Orange County than any other counties," Kelley said of maintaining accurate voter rolls. "None of this is a surprise. It's an ongoing thing, and every day we have been working on those kinds of things. If they're looking for a completely clean list, that's not going to happen."

The heads of Democratic and Republican parties in Orange County felt confident heading in the primary and viewed it as a dry run for the November presidential election.

The big difference for Democrats is the party enjoys a slight advantage of registration, the first time since the Watergate era of the mid-1970s. There are 23,600 more Democrats registered than Republicans as of Monday, said Orange County Democratic Party, Chairwoman Ada Briceno.

"Now we're just working hard to turn out our voters," Briceno said. "We're very optimistic, but the truth is we have to make sure we're changing the hearts and minds of voters going into these vote centers. Change is hard for folks, so we've been doing a lot of education."

The party's volunteers have gone door to door alerting voters they can cast their ballots at any of the vote centers.

"We're telling people 'don't show up to the school... to your old polling place,'" Briceno said.

Orange County Republican Chairman Fred Whitaker said Democrats might have more voters signed up, but his party has seen about 35,000 more Republicans than Democrats voting so far.

The new voting system makes it easier for party bosses to see who hasn't voted yet, Whitaker said. Republicans are also happy that there will be fewer provisional ballots, he added.

"I'm always concerned when there's live ballots out there," Whitaker said. "That leaves me with a little uncertainty and a risk for shenanigans, so we'll have to see how that all plays out."

Democratic officials say primaries tend to favor turnout for Republicans, but they expect a surge for the general election. In the last midterm election, there were significant upswings for Democrats in the congressional general elections as opposed to the primaries.

Races To Watch In Orange County
The Orange County supervisor race results are among the most anticipated in the county, with two seats up for grabs. Republican incumbents Andrew Do, the vice-chairman of the board, and Don Wagner, seek reelection in nonpartisan races.

Democratic attorney Ashleigh Aitken is challenging Wagner while Do is facing three Democrats, Westminster City Councilman Sergio Contreras, Garden Grove City Councilwoman Kim Bernice Nguyen, and termed-out Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.

In the 45th Congressional District, Democrat Katie Porter, an attorney and UC Irvine law professor is being challenged by six Republicans in a district that was long considered a safe, conservative area but has seen a growing influx of Democrat voters.

Republicans looking to advance to the November general election in the district are Laguna Hills City Councilman Don Sedgwick, the owner of a chain of jewelry stores; Yorba Linda City Councilwoman Peggy Huang; Lisa Sparks, inaugural dean of Chapman University's School of Communications; Mission Viejo Councilman and retired Marine Greg Raths; Irvine attorney Christopher Gonzales; and former teacher Rhonda Furin.

The district covers an inland area between roughly Mission Viejo and Yorba Linda.

In the coastal 48th District, incumbent Democrat Harley Rouda is seeking reelection, and he is widely expected to advance to the November general election against Republican Michelle Steel, the chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Rouda said he is dedicated to attacking "relentless divisiveness" in Congress, saying, "The time has come to embrace common sense for common ground." He said he would fight for women's rights, work to address climate change, and support public education.

Steel said she is running for Congress to provide a "strong voice in Washington, D.C., who will honor promises made and stand up for us and our values." She pointed to her work on the Board of Supervisors, saying she fought higher taxes while working to reduce traffic congestion and "ensuring our bays and coastlines are clean."

Other Republicans in the race are Brian Burley, an IT consultant, and business owner, mortgage broker and filmmaker John Thomas Schuesler, and Brian Griffin, owner of a property management company. Retired teacher Richard Mata is running as an Independent.

Sen. Ling Ling Chang, R-Diamond Bar, will square off in a rematch with Josh Newman, who was recalled and replaced by Chang, who narrowly lost to him in 2016.

In the 37th District race, Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, faces a challenge from Democratic Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley, and UC Irvine law professor Dave Min, also a Democrat.

Read: REAL-TIME RESULTS: Orange County's 2020 Primary Election Races

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.