Election workers at some Morgan Hill precincts outnumbered the tally of voters who showed up to cast ballots in the first few hours of Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary contest, as officials predicted a low turnout.
Polls are open until 8 p.m. throughout Santa Clara County for voters to cast their ballots June 3. Absentee or vote-by-mail ballots can be dropped off at any precinct in the county, according to election officials.
Morgan Hill volunteer election staff at polling places Tuesday morning said they have seen substantially more ballot deliveries than in-person voting, but the overall numbers barely reached into the double digits at some polling places.
At the El Toro Fire Station on Old Monterey Road, only two people had cast ballots on site as of about 10 a.m., according to precinct manager Richard Stallkamp. Volunteers do not count the drop-off ballots before polls close, but Stallkamp estimated less than five drop-offs visited the precinct Tuesday morning.
“We’re here for however many people come,” Stallkamp said. Five other volunteers manned the El Toro Fire Station precinct.
At the Morgan Hill Bible Church precinct in south Morgan Hill, only six voters cast their ballots in person, and less than 10 had dropped off their absentee ballots, according to volunteer Mark Bell. Total registered voters in that precinct number 577.
Precinct volunteers at the CalFire station on Monterey Road south of town reported three voters had filled out ballots on site as of about 10:30 a.m. That precinct has about 1,126 voters registered.
The Morgan Hill ballot includes not only the governor’s primary, but also races for lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, U.S. Congress, state assembly and other statewide races. The only contested local race is that of Santa Clara County Sheriff, in which incumbent Laurie Smith is challenged by retired local sheriff’s captain Kevin Jensen.
Santa Clara County election officials predicted a low overall turnout for the June 3 balloting, with most participating voters expected to simply drop off their completed ballots on or before Election Day.
“Out of all registered voters, probably it will be 35 percent or less” in turnout throughout the county, said Santa Clara County Assistant Registrar of Voters Matt Moreles. “But of the voters who turn out in an election like this, usually around 80 percent vote-by-mail (or by drop-off) and 20 percent go to the polls.”
Polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday, and by 9 a.m. election officials hadn’t heard of any problems at the polls. No long lines or delays are predicted. “We expect it to be a pretty smooth day,” Moreles said.
The predicted low overall turnout is partly due to typical low interest in primaries, though even 35 percent would be “at the low end” for most primary elections in Santa Clara County, Moreles added. Primary elections with no U.S. Presidential race on the ballot “generally (have) less voter awareness and less voter enthusiasm.”
Some areas such as San Jose, where the ballot features a crowded field for the mayor’s race, might see a higher than average turnout when the ballot counting is finished Tuesday night, Moreles added.
Terry Christensen, a retired political science professor at San Jose State University, noted the lack of high-profile races on Tuesday’s ballot will contribute to the low turnout.
“All the statewide offices are up, but there’s not really a hot contest for any of those,” Christensen said. “(Governor) Jerry Brown is going to walk away with first place, and the Republican candidates have not been very visible” in that race.
Although the ballot features two state measures, these are sponsored by the legislature rather than citizens and are therefore not controversial except to “insiders,” Christensen added.
State Measure 41 asks voters to support a $600 million bond for affordable housing for veterans and their families.
Measure 42 would require local cities, counties and other agencies to pay for their own costs to comply with open meetings and public records requirements. Currently the state government reimburses the locals for those costs.
Furthermore, “growing voter cynicism” is an increasingly influential trend keeping voters home, and that might be a factor in Tuesday’s primary, Christensen added.
The sheriff’s race seems to have more interest among South County voters, likely because that office is more active in the unincorporated rural areas than within the boundaries of larger cities to the north, Christensen added.
“This is the toughest contest Laurie Smith has faced since her first election” in 1998, he said. “I suspect she’ll win anyway because she is a pretty firmly established incumbent with a lot of support, but there’s clearly discontent.”
Despite the expected low turnout, election officials are required by state law to fully staff the precincts, Moreles explained. The number of precincts, as well as the volunteer staff and bilingual volunteers required at each polling place, is determined by formulas based on the number of registered voters in each geographical area.
“Regardless of the expected turnout, you have to have a fully staffed number of polling places,” Moreles explained.
In Morgan Hill, there are 23 polling places, according to the registrar’s website.
To find out where your polling place is, call the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office at (408) 299-VOTE or (408) 299-8683. To view a sample ballot go to the registrar’s website at sccgov.org/sites/rov
