Record low voter turnout of 28%, more than 92,000 ballots counted, SJ registrar says
The 28 percent voter turnout for the June 7 primary election is the lowest voter turnout for a midterm in San Joaquin County history, election officials say.
“You have voter apathy, you had a recall election, and so during these midterm elections, as they call them, people aren’t coming out to vote,” former county Registrar of Voters Austin Erdman said.
Erdman came out of retirement to assist the county with the June 7 election following Registrar of Voters Heather Ditty’s sudden death just days before the election. He also came out of retirement in 2021 to serve as interim registrar of the Registrar of Voters Office for the general election, following the resignation of Melinda Dubroff.
He anticipates that turnout will be greater for the November general election.
“What you’re going to see is a huge influx in 2024 when many more people go to the polls when they think that’s what makes a difference.”
More than 92,000 ballots have been counted in the latest election results update from the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters.
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The update came about 8:30 a.m. just before the June 21 county Board of Supervisors meeting. Assistant Registrar of Voters Olivia Hale said of the roughly 109,000 ballots received, 16,602 remain to be counted.
“We’ve definitely gotten back on track and we have every intention of getting this done in a timely manner,” Hale said at the June 21 meeting.
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About 30% of San Joaquin County’s 101,922 vote-by-mail ballots required duplication because of a blurry barcode issue. Duplication is conducted by teams of two by hand under camera surveillance, a process complicit with California elections code. Combined with a massive influx of vote-by-mail ballots on Election Day, results have taken weeks to roll out. July 7 is the deadline to certify the election.
When ballots are removed from the envelope, they are no longer attached to a name and are separated by “cards.” The primary election in San Joaquin County required a three-card ballot this cycle, meaning there were three sheets of paper each voter had to fill out. Each card has a barcode, and if the barcode on an individual card does not scan properly, the individual card is duplicated. According to the Registrar of Voters, some 90,000 cards have required duplication from the June 7 primary election.
The Registrar of Voters used 725 staff and volunteers at 127 polling places on Election Day and has since added 125 new staff to assist with the duplicating process a including internal transfers from different county departments. Hale said the public is still welcome to come tour the process at the Registrar of Voters office.
Heather Ditty: San Joaquin County registrar of voters, dies days before California election
Record reporter Ben Irwin covers Stockton and San Joaquin County government. He can be reached at birwin@recordnet.com or on Twitter @B1rwin. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Primary election voter turnout lowest in San Joaquin County history
