Races To Watch: Orange County's 2020 Primary Voting Underway

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Nearly 1.5 million people are registered to vote here in Orange County, according to the latest voter registration numbers from Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s office. With early voting underway since Feb. 22, voters continue to make their choices in the presidential primary, and are voting on the largest bond issue in state history.

Statewide, there are 20.4 million registered voters, an increase of 3.1 million since the last presidential election in 2016. In fact, 80 percent of eligible Californians are registered to vote, the highest heading into a California Presidential Primary in the past 68 years.

“California entered 2020 with a record 20.4 million registered voters—and I only expect that figure to climb as we reach the Presidential Primary in March and General Election in November,” said Secretary of State Alex Padilla.

MAJOR ELECTIONS

The most-watched races on all ballots in California are those for the presidential primary.

Here in Orange County, voters also weighed in on races for the state house and U.S. Congress.

In the 37th Congressional District, incumbent John Morlach is facing Katrena Foley and Dave Min.

In the 38th Congressional District, incumbent Linda Sanchez is facing Michael Tolar.

In the 39th Congressional District, incumbent Gil Cisneros is facing Steve Cox and Young Kim.

In the 45th Congressional District which contains the cities of Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, incumbent Katie Porter is facing Greg Raths, Peggy Huang, Rhonda Furin, Don Sedgwick, Lisa Sparks and Christopher Gonzales.

In the 47th Congressional District which contains the cities of Los Alamitos and Rossmoor, incumbent Alan Lowenthal is facing Amy Phan West, Peter Mathews, Jalen Dupree Mcleod, Sou Moua, and John Briscoe.

In the 48th Congressional District which contains the cities of Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, incumbent Harley Rouda is facing John Thomas Schuesler, Michelle Steel, Richard Mata, Brian Burley, and James Brian Griffin.

In the 49th Congressional District which contains the cities of San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, incumbent Mike Levin is facing Brian Maryott.

State Assembly Offices

In the 55th California State Assembly District, which covers parts of Orange and Los Angeles County, incumbent Philip Chin faces Andrew Rodriguez.

In the 65th California State Assembly District, incumbent Sharon Quirk-Silva faces Cynthia Thacker.

In the 68th California State Assembly District, which contains the city of Lake Forest incumbent Steven Choi faces Benjamin Yu, Eugene Fields and Melissa Fox.

In the 72nd California State Assembly District, which contains the cities of Los Alamitos and Rossmoor, incumbent Tyler Diep faces Janet Nguyen, Diedre Nguyen, and Bijan Mohseni.

In the 73rd California State Assembly District which contains the cities of San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Rancho Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo, and Laguna Niguel, incumbent William (Bill) Brough faces Ed Sachs, Laurie Davies, Scott Rhinehard and Chris Duncan.

In the 74th California State Assembly District, which contains the cities of Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, incumbent Cottie Petrie-Norris faces Diane Dixon and Kelly Ernby.

County Supervisors

Closer to home, Orange County Supervisors 1st District, which contains the cities of Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Westminster, incumbent Andrew Do is facing Sergio Contreras, Kim Bernice Nguyen and Miguel Pulido.

In the 3rd District of the OC Supervisors, which contains the cities of Anaheim, Tustin, Irvine, Orange and Yorba Linda, Donald Wagner is facing Ashleigh Aitken.

FIND YOUR POLLING PLACE:

In Orange County, polling places are open for business, as are drop off ballot locations. Find yours:

• Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor
• Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar
• Lake Forest
• Mission Viejo
• Rancho Santa Margarita
• San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano
• Laguna Niguel, Dana Point
• Laguna Beach

REAL-TIME RESULTS

Patch will share real-time race results, starting Tuesday, March 3. Click here for all Orange County election results.

STUDENTS FOR CHANGE

Secretary of State Alex Padilla also noted that high school students are taking advantage of a new program to pre-register to vote, starting when they are 16-years-old. Teens who pre-register have their registration automatically activated when they turn 18. As of Feb. 3, there were 156,022 pre-registered 16- and 17-year-olds.

“Whenever I talk to high students it is clear that they care about their communities and democracy,” said Padilla. “Pre-registration provides a platform for young people to begin entering the electoral process before they reach 18. I am so proud that pre-registration has now helped over a half million California teens take their first steps into the democratic process. I am challenging California teens, school administrators, and parents to help us add another 100,000 pre-registrations by the November 2020 General Election.”

Padilla has visited 82 high schools to promote the pre-registration program.