Democrat Wins ‘Absentee Ballot’ Assembly Race

Democrat Sal Cannella defeated Republican Richard Lang in a special state Assembly election Tuesday in the northern San Joaquin Valley that attracted widespread attention because of the unprecedented heavy use of absentee ballots.

With all precincts reporting, Cannella had 31,000 votes or 53%. Lang, who garnered 27,000 votes, late Tuesday conceded the race for the 27th Assembly District seat, which includes Stanislaus County and part of Merced County.

Election officials estimated that about 60% of the voters who took part in the contest cast mail ballots. That is a record in California legislative elections, according to the secretary of state’s office, and is more than double the percentage of absentee ballots cast in state special elections during the last five years.

Absentee ballots could be returned to the election departments or polling stations in both counties until the polls closed at 8 p.m. About 30% of the district’s registered voters cast ballots Tuesday, officials said.

The aggressive pursuit of absentee ballots is becoming an increasingly common campaign tactic, and political consultants consider the 27th District contest to be a model for how California elections will be waged in the future.

Cannella, 47, a former machinist, has been Stanislaus County Supervisor since 1982. Lang, 52, who resigned as principal of a high school to run for the Assembly, has been a Modesto City Council member for 13 years.

Tuesday’s special election was called to fill the vacancy left when former Assemblyman Gary Condit, a Democrat, won election to Congress last fall. Condit replaced Democrat Tony Coelho, who resigned amid controversy over his personal finances.

With Cannella’s victory there now are 46 Democrats and 33 Republicans in the state’s lower house.

Voting by mail well in advance of the election is an effective campaign tool, because these are votes that cannot be swayed by final-hour appeals from the opposition. And campaign managers can track voting results well in advance of election day and adjust their strategy according to early absentee returns.

Traditionally, absentee ballots were only used by people unable to visit the polls on election day. But restrictions on mail ballots were lifted about 10 years ago. And in this election, campaign officials attempted to persuade all voters to apply for absentee ballots. Both campaigns identified voters using computerized data banks and sent out absentee ballot applications to party members.

The applications, which included campaign pitches from other politicians, were already filled out with the voter’s name and address. All voters had to do was sign the application and mail it to receive an absentee ballot.

Both campaign staffs followed up with phone calls and door-to-door visits to ensure that voters sent in their applications and then mailed in their ballots.

The previous record for percentage of mail ballots cast was 39%, in the 1987 special congressional election in San Francisco between Democrat Nancy Pelosi and Republican Harriet Ross, said Melissa Warren, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state.

But one of the reasons the percentage was so high in that contest was because so few total votes were cast, said Michael Yaki, an aide to Pelosi, who won the election. There was a voter turnout of only 24%, he said.