‘We’re moving right along.’ Merced County residents turn out for Super Tuesday
In every corner of Merced County, in libraries, churches, community centers, school auditoriums and other locations, residents turned out on Super Tuesday to cast their ballots in the primary election.
Many local issues dominated this year’s ballot — including U.S. Representative District 16 and Merced County Supervisor for districts 1, 2 and 4.
Also on the ballot is Measure J, which would update Merced College by authorizing the sale of $247 million in bonds, payable by property tax.
With less than three hours left until polls close, Merced County’s primary election has been relatively smooth, Registrar Barbara Levey reported.
“We’re moving right along here,” Levey said, noting that wait times at most polling places were only a few minutes long.
The same cannot be said of 14 other counties throughout California that experienced intermittent electronic problems, making voting centers run slowly on Super Tuesday.
Nearby Fresno and Madera counties were among those reportedly experiencing connection issues with the California Secretary of State’s voter file database.
The technical difficulties began just after 9 a.m. and were solved by 11 a.m.
Merced was also listed as an affected county, but Levey said the registrar’s office received no calls about abnormal wait times and all polling places opened on time.
Some initial glitches with equipment being set up improperly occurred, but these are typical and were quickly resolved, Levey said.
While it is still too early to gauge voter turnout, Levey said polling places were busy —but not overwhelmingly so.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Semi-official results from about 16,500 processed vote-by-mail ballots will be posted after, with updates every 30 minutes.
Levey said Friday that the number of ballots received had seemed low. However, voting often picks up in the evening, she said.
The major struggle for Merced County was a shortage of poll volunteers. Several dropped out just days before Super Tuesday, requiring additional last minute volunteers and training.
Although more volunteers were found, many failed to show up or called in sick come election day, Levey said.
“Those that did show up have really rallied,” she said.
Levey urged committed residents to volunteer for November’s general election. Information on how to become a poll worker is on the county’s website.
“It’s really an important and worthwhile endeavor for them to be a part of this,” Levey said.
As of Feb. 18, Merced County had 104,706 registered voters, according to the California Secretary of State, which means roughly 64.4 percent of eligible voters in the county are registered.
Of that number, 45,090 are registered Democrats, 29,361 are Republicans, 3,658 are registered American Independent, and 310 are registered Green Party. The Secretary of State data did not specifically state the number of voters registered “decline to state” or “other.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 6:09 PM.
