More than 74,000 people have already returned ballots in Santa Barbara County for the Sept. 14 gubernatorial recall election, which is a voter turnout rate of 29.6% so far.
Of those, about 39,237 were ballots from voters registered as Democrats, and 19,229 were from voters registered as Republicans, according to tracking done by the Santa Barbara County Elections Office.
The county has sent out about 249,950 ballots to local voters.
Joe Holland, the Santa Barbara County clerk, recorder, assessor and registrar of voters, said he is impressed with the turnout.
“We’re almost halfway to the 2003 recall election,” Holland told Noozhawk.
When California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, there was a 67% turnout in Santa Barbara County.
Holland speculated that the turnout rate so far has been high because it’s a simple ballot with only two questions: whether or not voters support removing Gov. Gavin Newsom from office, and, if he is recalled, which replacement candidate should be elected.
As Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue reported, if more than 50% of voters oppose the recall, the second question is moot. However, if the majority supports it, the replacement candidate with the most votes would be elected as the state’s 41st governor.
It’s much easier to vote now than in 2003, Holland said, when only 25% of voters voted by mail.
Every local voter was mailed a ballot, which can be returned by mail or by dropping it into one of the Santa Barbara County Elections Office ballot drop boxes.
Click here for more information about casting a ballot.
Republicans and Democrats are working hard this week to get the word out and turn in ballots.
Replacement candidate Larry Elder, a conservative talk radio show host who is the frontrunner on the ballot if Newsom gets recalled, spoke on Wednesday afternoon at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. The Santa Barbara County Democratic Party also held a protest of the event.
Polls statewide show Newsom handily beating the recall and remaining in office for the last year of his term, but that may be an illusion.
Spencer Brandt, organizing director for the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party, said that even though fewer Republicans have turned in ballots so far, they are likely to vote on Election Day “given that Donald Trump spread the better of the year eroding trust in vote-by-mail.”
“I expect Republicans to be out on Election Day,” Brandt said.
Brandt said the election is about turnout, and although historically conservatives vote early and by mail, it’s different this time.
“It’s very challenging for the pollsters to conduct their polls because there is not really a precedent for an election like this,” Brandt said. “The circumstances of each recall are all very different.”
Brandt said the Democratic Party is not taking anything for granted because if Elder is elected, “it would take a generation to undo” his policies.
“There is so much at stake if a Republican governor were elected,” Brandt said.
Bobbi McGinnis, chair of the Santa Barbara County Republican Party, said, “The governor is in trouble.”
She said party leaders are pushing for 80% of registered Republicans to cast ballots in Santa Barbara County.
The party has already dropped off nearly 125,000 fliers on people’s doorsteps, she said.
“We have had people walking all over the neighborhoods in North and South County,” she said.
McGinnis said the message for Republicans is to vote now and to get the ballots in early.
Republican Party representatives have said Newsom’s COVID-19-pandemic-related mask mandates and closure of businesses, high gas prices, and lack of concern for “working and middle-class people” are why he deserves to be recalled.
“They are really tired of having this elitist governor who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” McGinnis said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
