Voter turnout across the state was low everywhere on June 7, Long Beach was no exception with just 17% of registered voters having their ballots counted as of Wednesday, according to early election data.

As of Wednesday morning, just 14% of the ballots sent to Los Angeles County voters were returned, which means thousands of voters decided influential races for Los Angeles and Long Beach mayoral positions and others instead of hundreds of thousands.

Voter fatigue and apathy may be contributing factors, experts say.

In Long Beach, voters will get another chance to vote in November as more than half of the seats that were up for election appear to be headed to runoffs after most candidates failed to get over the 50% threshold to win outright.

Who turned out to vote? 

While Long Beach’s overall turnout is slightly higher than the county’s, that doesn’t mean that all parts of the city voted equally. The three City Council districts that make up East Long Beach accounted for the majority of the votes counted through Wednesday.

The 3rd, 4th and 5th, which have historically had higher turnouts than other parts of the city, accounted for 25,717 votes, or 55% of the 46,851 total ballots counted as of Wednesday, according to data from PDI, an election tracking and political data firm based in Norwalk.

The city’s 3rd District, which includes Naples, Belmont Shore and other neighborhoods between the coast and the Traffic Circle, had the highest turnout with 25%. Both the 4th and 5th Districts had 23% voter turnout, a total that could grow as county election workers continue to process ballots over the next few weeks.

Voters who cast ballots in the primary were predominantly Democrats (58%), over the age of 50 (70%) and White (67%), according to PDI data through Wednesday morning.

Results from the last primary held in March 2020 were likely boosted by the presidential election, leading to citywide turnout ending at 40%.

The county said Wednesday evening that there are about 401,000 ballots still to be counted, and more could be added to that total in the form of mail-in ballots that were postmarked prior to polls closing Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Where was turnout the lowest? 

Some of the lowest turnouts in the city were seen in North and Central Long Beach, with the city’s 6th District and 9th Districts (10%) and 8th District (12%) recording the fewest votes in the city as of Wednesday.

Those three districts, which make up the entirety of North Long Beach and Central Long Beach, combined for 8,263 votes. Only the odd City Council districts are up for election in 2022, meaning that the even districts could only vote on citywide races like the mayor and state races like the governor, state Legislature and other races.

“It’s disgusting that the entirety of Long Beach cares so little about voting,” said Fred Esch, who voted in the 5th District election. “That should be the big story. That people don’t give a damn.”

The 9th District had both an open City Council seat and its incumbent, Councilmemebr Rex Richardson, running for mayor. Richardson was able to overcome the low turnout in his home district that he’s represented since 2014 to claim a small lead heading into the November runoff with Councilmember Suzie Price.

Price’s 3rd District had the largest voter turnout but preliminary election results showed her trailing Richardson by about three percentage points with ballots still left to process.

How did it affect results? 

Matt Lesenyie, a professor of political science at Cal State Long Beach, said that some of Long Beach races could have been won Tuesday night because of a mixture of low voter turnout and lack of name recognition for challengers trying to unseat incumbents.

Despite having multiple candidates in the field the 7th City Council District, which includes West Long Beach, appears to have been easily won by two-term incumbent Councilmember Roberto Uranga, who captured nearly 64% of the vote Tuesday night.

Longtime City Prosecutor Doug Haubert, who’s been in office since 2010, has about 59% of the vote despite being challenged from the left and the right during Tuesday’s primary.

City Auditor Laura Doud, who’s served for 16 years in her position, appears to have won another four-year term with a 24-percentage-point lead over Dan Miles holding as of Wednesday night.

The city attorney’s race that was projected to be tight with the potential for a City Hall antagonist to take over the influential seat turned out to be a blowout of sorts, with Dawn McIntosh, a deputy city attorney who was endorsed by a host of establishment elected officials, holding onto what could be big primary victory.

“It makes a world of difference to have name recognition,” Lesenyie said Tuesday night.

Low voter turnout may have also contributed to the vast amount of runoffs that the city could see in November. As of Wednesday, there are four City Council races, a school board race and the mayor’s race that could all be extended to November.

Christian Grose, a professor of political science and public policy at USC, is optimistic that turnout will improve in November. The mayor’s race in Los Angeles, where Karen Bass and Rick Caruso will likely fill up television and other forms of media, could help remind Long Beach voters that an election is happening, he said.

“But they’re going to get a lot of mail from Richardson and Price,” Grose said. “At the end of the day, the mayoral election is going to demand a lot of attention from voters.”

The next update from the county is expected Friday afternoon. Results will be updated on Mondays and Fridays over the next month with a projected certification date of July 7.

Election results show Richardson, Price leading in Long Beach mayoral race

 

Election results for City Council show one decisive victory; multiple runoffs in November