Voter Turnout

Election volunteers reported a brisk pace at local polling places Tuesday. Lines had already formed in front of Costa Mesa City Hall and the Neighborhood Community Center when poll workers arrived at 6 a.m. “There’s been a steady stream of voters,” said Colleen Tucker, a poll worker at the Costa Neighborhood Community Center. Early voters braved a morning rain shower, standing under an awning at the community center at 6 a.m. to avoid getting wet, Tucker said.

Alicia Robinson Political activists and poll workers are bracing for a record number of voters they anticipated will swarm polling places today. "I expect it to be just a massive voter turnout," said Teddi Alves, who was working in Orange County Democrats' Huntington Beach campaign office Monday. "People just think this is so critical." The Orange County Democrats' office has been busy helping people who didn't receive voter information, or who don't know where their polling place is, Alves said.

Deepa Bharath Unpopular gubernatorial candidates may ruin local races because of poor voter turnout, residents and experts say. Former Costa Mesa Councilman Joe Erickson said he hopes for at least a 60% turnout. "The higher the turnout, it means the more informed voters are," he said. "I'm concerned there is going to be a low voter turnout because the two candidates running for governor are not very well liked." Former Newport Beach Councilwoman Jan Debay said she expects a higher turnout in Newport Beach than in any other city.

Alicia Robinson They call it "Super Tuesday," but it's anyone's guess how powerful voter turnout will be for today's primary election. Polls opened this morning at 7 a.m. for the 106,696 registered voters in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Newport-Mesa voters will decide on four statewide ballot issues and Republican races in either the 68th or 70th Assembly District as well as the 35th Senate District and 46th Congressional District, which also has a Democratic contest.

Jennifer Kho COSTA MESA -- Voters energized by the tightest presidential race in recent memory will have a lot more to think about today than simply choosing between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Eleven Costa Mesa City Council candidates -- including two incumbents -- are vying for votes, along with state candidates and a number of county measures and state propositions. Eileen Padberg, of Eileen Padberg Consulting, said 11 is a big number of city council candidates, but City Councilman Joe Erickson said the number is "pretty normal in Costa Mesa."

Alicia Robinson Like sudden snowstorms in colder climates, a flurry of campaign offices has swept into Orange County in anticipation of the upcoming election, and they'll just as quickly melt away after Nov. 2. In an effort to get out the vote in November, the Orange County Republican Party will open a satellite office in Newport Beach in early September, and Orange County Democrats opened a second office in Santa...

As a liberal Orange County voter, I am accustomed to "post-election blues," but one particular district election has drawn my ire. The Coast Community College District Trustee election result, reported in the Daily Pilot on Nov. 3, appears to be the result of either voter ignorance or the popular acceptance of greed as an acceptable personality trait. The Daily Pilot, and other newspapers, all published articles depicting how Armando Ruiz resigned from the district so he could increase his retirement pension from $5,000 per year to $50,000 per year.

Mathis Winkler NEWPORT BEACH -- While the presidential race is expected to draw an unusually high voter turnout, election observers say that more ballots cast will have little effect on the outcome of the city's campaigns. "The closeness [of the presidential race] might excite people to go to the polls," said Mark Petracca, chairman of the political science department at UC Irvine. "But that's not what's happening." While California Secretary of State Bill Jones has predicted the state's highest voter turnout in two decades, with more than 75% of California's registered voters going to the polls, Petracca said nationwide numbers probably would only surpass the 1996 elections by a few points.

Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook sailed into the general election against incumbent U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher this week after beating 25-year-old political newcomer Dan Kalmick in the 46th congressional district primary. Cook scored a knockout on Kalmick in the primaries Tuesday, garnering 13,251 votes, or 80% of the vote in the final count. Kalmick managed to grab 3,323 votes, or 20% of the vote in early returns. With a 17% voter turnout for Orange County and a predictable win for Cook projected, both candidates dispensed with the traditional election night watch parties.

Don't believe anyone who tells you that the 20% voter turnout for Tuesday's congressional election was not too bad, even if they cite that it was a special election in a race that almost inevitably will be won by the early Republican front-runner. Instead, believe this: Just one out of five voters in the 48th Congressional District, which includes Newport Beach as well as Irvine and other parts of south Orange County, cared enough to vote in a race that will decide who will represent them in the U.S. House of Representatives for years and years to come.

The Costa Mesa City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to place a measure on the June ballot that would seek to lock the land use of the Orange County Fairgrounds as a fair and exposition center. The measure would give the fate of the fairgrounds to the voters. Although Costa Mesa is cash-strapped with an estimated $9.3-million gap in this year’s budget, the city is spending between $112,267 and $136,794 to place the measure on the June 8 ballot. But the council members say they have been acting on the people’s behalf, who are strongly in favor of keeping the fairgrounds as a fair and exposition center.

Election volunteers reported a brisk pace at local polling places Tuesday. Lines had already formed in front of Costa Mesa City Hall and the Neighborhood Community Center when poll workers arrived at 6 a.m. “There’s been a steady stream of voters,” said Colleen Tucker, a poll worker at the Costa Neighborhood Community Center. Early voters braved a morning rain shower, standing under an awning at the community center at 6 a.m. to avoid getting wet, Tucker said.

Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook sailed into the general election against incumbent U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher this week after beating 25-year-old political newcomer Dan Kalmick in the 46th congressional district primary. Cook scored a knockout on Kalmick in the primaries Tuesday, garnering 13,251 votes, or 80% of the vote in the final count. Kalmick managed to grab 3,323 votes, or 20% of the vote in early returns. With a 17% voter turnout for Orange County and a predictable win for Cook projected, both candidates dispensed with the traditional election night watch parties.

Election officials expected a high turnout at the polls today in Newport Beach. “Turnout is certainly higher every time there is a presidential primary,” said Neal Kelley, of Orange County Registrar of Voters. Based on Newport Beach’s roughly 20,000 permanent mail-in voters, Kelley estimates turnout at about 50-55%. Election officials are advising voters in Newport Beach there could be a 30-minute or more wait at some local polling places during peak voting hours.

Political scientist predicts 40% turnout in Nov. 8 election that lacks flock-to-the-polls appeal.If you don't belong to a union, you're not a teacher and you haven't been watching TV, Nov. 8 may have slipped under your radar. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and various special interest groups are trying to get people to care about voting on eight statewide initiatives next month. Special elections tend to be targeted at subsets of the electorate, and this one is no exception, UC Irvine political scientist Louis DeSipio said.

Don't believe anyone who tells you that the 20% voter turnout for Tuesday's congressional election was not too bad, even if they cite that it was a special election in a race that almost inevitably will be won by the early Republican front-runner. Instead, believe this: Just one out of five voters in the 48th Congressional District, which includes Newport Beach as well as Irvine and other parts of south Orange County, cared enough to vote in a race that will decide who will represent them in the U.S. House of Representatives for years and years to come.

As a liberal Orange County voter, I am accustomed to "post-election blues," but one particular district election has drawn my ire. The Coast Community College District Trustee election result, reported in the Daily Pilot on Nov. 3, appears to be the result of either voter ignorance or the popular acceptance of greed as an acceptable personality trait. The Daily Pilot, and other newspapers, all published articles depicting how Armando Ruiz resigned from the district so he could increase his retirement pension from $5,000 per year to $50,000 per year.

Alicia Robinson Political activists and poll workers are bracing for a record number of voters they anticipated will swarm polling places today. "I expect it to be just a massive voter turnout," said Teddi Alves, who was working in Orange County Democrats' Huntington Beach campaign office Monday. "People just think this is so critical." The Orange County Democrats' office has been busy helping people who didn't receive voter information, or who don't know where their polling place is, Alves said.

Alicia Robinson Like sudden snowstorms in colder climates, a flurry of campaign offices has swept into Orange County in anticipation of the upcoming election, and they'll just as quickly melt away after Nov. 2. In an effort to get out the vote in November, the Orange County Republican Party will open a satellite office in Newport Beach in early September, and Orange County Democrats opened a second office in Santa...