A week after Election Night on Nov. 8, nine Bay Area counties are still in the process of counting ballots and updating results. As of Tuesday night, county-level turnout ranged from 31.31 percent in Alameda County to 58.63 percent in San Francisco County, with most counties hovering at 45 to 50 percent.
According to county officials, the estimated final turnout in some counties will appear lower than the 2018 midterm election. The most mentioned reason behind the decline is the differences in the gubernatorial election between the two years.
“What drives percentages and voter turnout are the candidates and the measures,” said Jim Irizarry, San Mateo County’s assistant chief elections officer. “When there is an open seat, there are a lot more people that actually go to vote in that type of election. Right now, we have a sitting governor, so it’s not as active in terms of voter turnout.”
As of Tuesday night, San Mateo County saw a 48.5 percent turnout. Irizarry estimated the final turnout is likely to be around 60 percent, considerably lower than the 72 percent turnout four years ago.
Irizarry argued that the 2014 general election might be more comparable to this year, when Jerry Brown was a sitting governor and the final voter turnout was only 46.25 percent.
The entire election process at the county has involved about 500 regular employees and up to 800 volunteers.
“We always hope for more, but this is a very good voter turnout given the election this year,” Irizarry said.
Alameda County only had a 31 percent turnout so far. Tim Dupuis, the county Registrar of Voters spokesperson, said the total turnout might reach 50 percent.
Dupuis said it is hard to determine the reasons behind the possibly low turnout, but he agreed that people might be less motivated to vote as Gavin Newsom was likely to serve his second term.
Alameda County hired about 350 temporary ballet workers to help get through the election. With approximately 200,000 more ballots to process, the county will continue the work and release updated results every afternoon this week. Dupuis hoped most of the votes would be posted by the end of the week.
However, some hiccups may still slow down the remaining process. For instance, if there are signature problems on any vote-by-mail ballots, the county will need to give corresponding voters a notification and a period of time to correct things corrected.
Santa Clara County saw a turnout of 52.17 percent as of Tuesday, with 90 percent of ballot counting progress already completed.
Santa Clara County had a 71 percent voter turnout in 2018. Steve Goltiao, the county’s Registrar of Voters’ communications officer, estimated that the final turnout this year would be around 5 to 15 percent lower. However, for the possible driven factors, he added a different opinion.
“The overall consensus in political interest and energy is just lower this year than is was in previous years,” Goltiao said. “A lot of people were more likely to be voicing their opinions and votes at that time. Just right now, a little bit more quiet overall.”
As the outcomes of many close races at the county or city level remain unclear, county officials urged candidates and voters to be patient.
“Hopefully, as we get through this week, some close races have clearer outcomes,” Dupuis said regarding Alameda County.
Irizarry said people should wait until the election has been certified in December, as any vote counts for close races.
It helps if they send out mail in ballots. So many were not mailed this year.