County’s Turnout Hits 20-Year High

Orange County voters reversed a 20-year slide in turnout for presidential primaries on Tuesday, keeping pace with a thunderous surge at the polls statewide.

Of the county’s 1.2 million registered voters, 50.6% ducked into ballot booths on election day--the highest percentage since Ronald Reagan’s victory in the 1980 GOP primary. Statewide, an estimated 51% of voters cast ballots on Tuesday.

South County cities recorded some of the highest voter turnouts locally, propelled in part by strong support for Measure F, an effort to derail the proposed El Toro airport that county voters approved overwhelmingly.

“I certainly think you must give some credit to Measure F and the intensity of feeling against the airport,” said county GOP chairman Tom Fuentes.

But Fuentes said most of the credit belongs to the unbridled race for the Republican presidential nomination and to California’s early primary, which finally made the state a major player in picking the presidential nominees.

“We actually had a real competition,” Fuentes said. “It invigorated interest [among] the party rank and file.”

The breadth of that increased voter interest wasn’t fully known until Wednesday, a day after the election, because of serious delays in the county’s ballot count Tuesday night.

County Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever said ballot-counting machines were jammed by 6,000 ballots that had been coded improperly. The ballot cards had to be removed and duplicated so they could be run through a computer, and then recounted.

“It was the problem that got us off to a slow start,” said Lever, who blamed the difficulties on a company that produced the ballots.

The registrar’s Web site also was plagued with problems Tuesday night, keeping many voters in the dark about which candidates and initiatives were winning.

But by Wednesday morning, final vote counts were in--with figures showing an impressive turnout.

Laguna Woods, a tiny South County city consisting almost exclusively of the Leisure World retirement village, topped all cities with a 68% turnout. Lake Forest and Laguna Niguel had 58%; San Juan Capistrano, 57%; and Mission Viejo, 56%, according to the registrar’s office.

All five cities lie near the flight path of the proposed El Toro airport, the target of Measure F.

Statewide, a slew of controversial state initiatives, from the gay marriage ban to casino gambling on Indian reservations, lured voters from all parties and political persuasions, said Jack Pitney, associate professor of political science at the Claremont Colleges.

“It seems there was a combination of events that drove voters to polls, like alignment of magnets,” Pitney said. “If the primary had come later, and the presidential nominations had been settled, you would have see a lot lower turnout.”

More than 100,000 absentee ballots still need to be counted, including 8,000 damaged when voters changed their minds and put tape or Band-Aids on punched holes, and another 12,000 ballots that need verification to show that people who have moved out of the county did not vote twice.

“In all, it could take another two to three weeks to count everything,” Lever said.

The final tally could affect the outcome of several races, including a Board of Education seat for Area 3, and some judicial races. In the school race, former educator Joanne L. Stanton has a lead of 320 votes over incumbent Eric H. Woolery.

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Voters Return

More than half of registered voters in Orange County cast ballots on Tuesday, the highest turnout in a presidential primary since 1980.

March 2000 - 50.6% (Bush/Gore)

March 96 - 43% (Clinton/Dole)

June 92 - 46% (Bush/Clinton)

1988 - 49% (Bush/Dukakis)

1984, - 50% (Mondale/Reagan)

1980, 59 (Carter/Reagan)

1976 - 74% (Carter/Ford)

1972 - 72% (Nixon/McGovern)

1968 - 70% (Nixon/Humphrey)

1964 - 73% (Johnson/Goldwater)

1960 - 61% (Kennedy/Nixon)

HOW ORANGE COUNTY VOTED

Presidential

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George W. Bush (GOP) 38.1% John McCain (GOP) 26.2 Al Gore (Democrat) 24.1 Bill Bradley (Democrat) 6.0 Other 5.6

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U.S. Senate

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Dianne Feinstein (Democrat) 37.5% Tom Campbell (GOP) 30.8 Ray Haynes (GOP) 13.4 Bill Horn (GOP) 6.0 Other 12.3

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Some Key State Propositions

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PERCENT IN FAVOR Orange County Statewide 1A Indian Gaming 62.3% 64.6% 12 Parks bond 58.3 63.2 13 Water bond 60.1 64.8 21 Juvenile crime 69.4 62.0 22 Limit on marriage 69.3 61.4 26 Majority vote for school bonds 41.1 48.8

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Sources: OC Registrar of Voters, Secretary of State

Contributors

Contributing to The Times’ election coverage:

*Times computer analyst: Ray F. Herndon.

*Times graphics reporters: Raoul Ranoa, Paul Rodriguez and Brady MacDonald.

*Times technical advisors: Jim Carr, Dick Lewis and Jackson Sellers.

*Times assistants: Jenny Anglin and Jennifer Apuron.