Voter Turnout in Santa Barbara County Already at Record High

Turnout is at 81.62 percent, with about 27,000 ballots yet to be counted and some races still too close to call.

By Sonia Fernandez, Noozhawk Staff Writer | Published on 11.12.2008

The Santa Barbara County Elections Office reported Tuesday that the voter turnout for the county has reached a record high of 81.62 percent, up from 71.9 percent last Friday.

“We’ve counted about 5,000 more ballots,” Clerk-Assessor-Recorder Joe Holland said.

In Santa Barbara County, 19th Senate District candidate Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson overtook opponent Democrat Tony Strickland by a 10-point margin. Recent results for Ventura and Los Angeles counties, however, have her trailing him, so that as of Tuesday evening Jackson was a total of 504 votes behind Strickland. Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties will continue to count ballots.

Meanwhile, 3rd District Supervisor candidate Doreen Farr continues to hold her slim lead over Steve Pappas with just a 605-vote margin between them.

Santa Barbara school board candidate Ed Heron’s lead over Charlotte Ware widened to 418 votes from 320 last Friday, and Carpinteria City Council hopeful Kathleen Reddington’s 19-vote lead over opponent Steve McWhirter continues to hold.

About 27,000 ballots have yet to be counted, including about 8,000 overseas cards, 6,000 provisionals and about 11,000 emergency ballots, which were vote-by-mail cards dropped off at the polls.

Write to sfernandez@noozhawk.com.

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» Go Strickland on 11.13.08 @ 03:27 AM

We don’t want Taxin Jackson again, double dipping.

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» QuestionMark on 11.13.08 @ 11:44 AM

Where is the apology from Joe Holland for screwing up so badly on the school board election? He cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. Officials get recalled for screwing up this badly.

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