Orange County sees 16.5% more registered voters — so far — than in last midterms
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Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 12. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you today’s TimesOC newsletter with the latest roundup of news and events.
Voting by mail for the Nov. 8 election officially kicked off Monday, the deadline for all the ballots to be mailed to voters, according to county Registrar of Voters Bob Page and reported on by my colleague Sara Cardine.
“Mail ballots will go out to all actively registered voters who don’t require a military or overseas ballot,” Page said during a news conference.
As of Thursday, officials had counted 1,815,374 registered voters, a 16.5% increase from registration for the 2018 midterm election.
Page said although an increase in the number of registered voters may result in lower turnout percentages, county voting trends have been increasing steadily.
“While the percentage is lower, for this last election there were about 1,000 more voters who cast ballots in the 2022 primary than did in the 2018 primary,” he said.
This election cycle in Orange County features 186 candidates running for 73 city offices and 63 school and special district seats. There are also 20 local measures and seven statewide propositions for voters to consider.
One-fifth of the Orange County voting centers, approximately, 37 locations, will accept ballots starting Oct. 29, during business hours, while the remainder of the 181 sites will open on Nov. 5, operating from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Citizens can register to vote at the Registrar’s office, at any open vote centers or request a provisional ballot online for in-person pick up.
To learn more about the O.C. voting process, visit ocvote.org.
MORE NEWS
— President Joe Biden, who is expected to arrive this afternoon at LAX on his way to some midterm election events in the Southland will be in Orange County on Friday. POTUS will leave Santa Monica Airport around 1 p.m. Friday and fly to John Wayne Airport for an O.C. event, where he will “deliver remarks on lowering costs for American families,” according to the White House. As of Tuesday afternoon, details on that event were pending.
— State officials contained an oil sheen that was spotted in Talbert Channel near Huntington Beach on Friday morning. Crews working to replace steep plate walls had noticed light sheening, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response. “Due to the brownish milky characteristics of the oil officials believe it may be from an abandoned pipeline,” state officials said.
— The Orange County Board of Supervisors last week appointed Robert Faigin, an attorney who spent the past two decades representing the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, as the new head of the Office of Independent Review, an agency that investigates potential abuse or misconduct by law enforcement. According to my colleague Eric Licas’ report on the appointment, Faigin’s first day on the job will be Nov. 4. The announcement of his arrival to the position comes about three months after the release of an O.C. Grand Jury report titled “How Independent is the Office of Independent Review?”
— A 47-year-old Fountain Valley man, Niem Ngoc Ha, who admitted to paying a former Santa Ana police officer $128,000 to cover up four illegal casinos he ran agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy, operating an illegal gambling business and bribery in court documents filed last Thursday. The illegal casinos could each bring in thousands of dollars in a single night, according to court documents. In order to protect them from scrutiny by law enforcement, Ha made multiple payments between June and November 2020 to former Santa Ana Police Officer Steve Lopez. Lopez pleaded guilty to one count of bribery in April 2021.
LIFE & LEISURE
— Longtime UFC fighter Tito Ortiz is asking $4.8 million for his Mediterranean-style home in Huntington Beach, the city where he served as mayor pro tem before resigning abruptly in June 2021, saying he was targeted with personal attacks by critics.
— More than 10,000 people turned out over the weekend to help celebrate the grand opening of the new Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
— To the dismay of its local fans, Outback restaurant on Newport Boulevard recently closed. Outback Steakhouse closed its Irvine location, inside Culver Plaza, in 2017, the same year the restaurant’s Florida-based parent company Bloomin’ Brands announced it would shutter 40 locations nationwide. No need to fret quite yet if you’re an Outback enthusiast: its Laguna Hills and Westminster locations are still serving up the Bloomin’ Onion and Grilled Chicken on the Barbie.
SPORTS
— Will this be an NHL playoffs year for the Anaheim Ducks? L.A. Times sports columnist Helene Elliott provides this list of five things to watch for as the first full season under general manager Pat Verbeek starts tonight against Seattle at Honda Center.
— Former Angels communications director Eric Kay was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison Tuesday after being convicted in February of providing counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl that led to the overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
— The Huntington Beach High football team could be headed back to the CIF Southern Section playoffs for the fourth time in the past six autumns after getting the best of resurgent Fountain Valley last Friday night. The Oilers scored points on four of five possessions from the start of the second quarter until the start of the fourth to claim a 23-12 victory in a Sunset League battle.
CALENDAR THIS
—The Newport Beach Film Festival is opening this Thursday with the film “WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story,” starring Daniel Radcliffe, at the Edwards Big Newport theater at 7 p.m. The festival will continue through Oct. 20 and dozens of films will be screened during its run. It will close with the much-anticipated “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” from director Rian Johnson. For more information or to buy tickets, visit newportbeachfilmfest.com.
— OK, this one is admittedly not as glamorous as an opportunity to go to the Newport Beach Film Festival, but it is a helpful event for those hoping to create more space in their home or garage: As part of “Clean California Dump Day,” Caltrans staff will be at Costa Mesa’s Senior Center on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 8 to 11 a.m., accepting bulky household items, such as mattresses, furniture and toys that are too big for residential garbage bins. The center is located at 695 W. 19th St. Those dropping off items are advised to enter on Plumer Street via Anaheim Avenue. The event ends at 11 a.m. or until intake capacity has been reached.
KEEP IN TOUCH
If you have a memory or story about Orange County, I would love to read and share it in this space. Please try to keep your submission to 100 words or less and include your name and current city of residence.
I’d appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C., or comments to carol.cormaci@latimes.com.
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