Sacramento County voters didn’t turn out for the election like they did in 2018. Here’s why
A little less than half of Sacramento County voters cast ballots in this month’s election, representing a big drop in turnout from the 2018 “blue wave” midterm but a comparable number to other similar California elections.
About 860,000 people are eligible to vote in Sacramento County. So far, the county has counted about 258,000 ballots. It has another 145,000 or so uncounted ballots.
Sacramento County public information officer Janna Haynes earlier this week said the county is “not even close” to processing all of the submitted ballots. The next release of votes is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
“Our turnout is going to be much closer to 50%. It’d be like maybe 47%,” said Haynes. “I think it’s a little bit low in comparison to where we would like to be but we can’t force people to vote, we can only educate them and provide all the means necessary to do so.”
California made it easier to vote since the coronavirus pandemic, sending all registered voters mail-in ballots instead of requiring people to ask for absentee ballots.
Still, turnout dropped since the last midterm election, the 2018 “blue wave” when many Democrats turned out to show opposition to the Trump administration. That year, about 70% of Sacramento County voters cast ballots.
The 2018 election also had more competitive statewide races compared to this election. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s scored his first win in gubernatorial race in 2018, while voters saw competitive and expensive contests for superintendent of public instruction and insurance commissioner.
In those races, Tony Thurmond defeated charter school-backed Marshall Tuck for superintendent, and Democrat Ricardo Lara won his contest for insurance commissioner against independent Steve Poizner.
This year, Newsom cruised to re-election and the statewide offices on the ballot were not competitive.
In the 2014 midterm election, Sacramento County saw similar voter turnout to what is expected this year. That year, about 48% of county voters cast ballots. The hot item on that ballot was Proposition 47, the initiative that reclassified certain nonviolent crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies.
‘Tame election in California’
Sacramento political consultant Andrew Acosta said this year’s election felt “like a typical midterm” since there weren’t any large races that commanded the attention of voters.
“It was a fairly tame election in California,” said Acosta. “Not a ton of energy with the governor’s race and there’s no U.S. Senate race so that top of the ticket didn’t create any energy down (the) ballot.”
Haynes pointed out that voter fatigue could have set in for some in Sacramento County following the June primary, last year’s failed recall election against Newsom, and the presidential primary and general elections in 2020.
She stressed the importance of voting in local elections, which can lead to tangible consequences in public services and education.
“These local measures and propositions have the local elected officials that are making the rules for where you live on a daily basis,” said Haynes. “The people that are choosing whether or not they’re going to fix your roads and the people that are handling your schools.”
Deadline for Sacramento results
Some of Sacramento County’s closest races this election are happening in contests for school board and city councils.
On the Sacramento City Council, for instance, political consultant and homeless activist Caity Maple leads state worker Tamiko Heim by just 166 votes in a race to represent a district that covers Oak Park and parts of south Sacramento.
Fewer than 200 votes separate candidates running for three different seats on the Sacramento City Unified School District Board of Education. In the closest of the three, incumbent Darrell Woo leads state attorney and parent activist Taylor Kayatta by just 39 votes.
Fewer than 100 votes separate candidates in the Dry Creek School District for Area 3. The Elverta Elementary School District race for Area 3 is separated by less than 10 votes, as is the Galt Union Elementary School District for Area 2.
The race might not be resolved this week with so many uncounted ballots. Following Election Day on Nov. 8, the county has 29 days to have all of the votes tallied.
By Dec. 8, the votes should be certified and sent to the Secretary of State, who has an additional 10 days to finalize results.
