Voter turnout in California’s primary is on track to be among the lowest ever.
As of Friday morning, only 20% of registered voters across the state participated in the Super Tuesday primary, according to preliminary numbers from the secretary of state’s office.
That figure is similar to what was seen across Southern California: Los Angeles County has a 19% turnout, San Bernardino County 15% and Riverside County 19% thus far. Orange County has a slightly higher turnout percentage, 26%, per the secretary of state, and San Diego County is at 25%.
Keep in mind that ballots sent by mail — as long as they are postmarked by Tuesday and received within seven days of election day — will continue to be counted in the coming days. There are an estimated 2.73 million ballots left to count, according to the secretary of state’s office.
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Still, those outstanding ballots aren’t expected to change voter turnout projections by much at all.
California moved its primary election to March ahead of the 2020 presidential election, opting to hold it on Super Tuesday, an election day when the greatest number of states hold primary contests. Voter turnout that year in the primary was nearly 47% statewide.
This year, California again was a part of Super Tuesday. So what caused such a lackluster turnout this go-round, particularly in a presidential year?
Increasingly divisive politics and fairly humdrum races on the ballot are to blame, political experts say.
Despite having an early primary, the presidential primaries were almost all but decided by the time ballots were mailed to voters in early February. It was clear that 2024 would be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The biggest race, then, was for California’s open U.S. Senate race — and even then, that seemed partially decided by election day, said Matt Lesenyie, who teaches political science at Cal State Long Beach. Even in the debates…
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