As of Wednesday morning, about 80 percent of the expected ballots from yesterday’s primary election have been counted. The Riverside County Registrar of Voters has announced that there are about 40,000 more ballots to count, but further results will not be released until Thursday evening.

So far, 158,987 votes have been counted. This represents about 17.9 percent of registered voters. Statewide 100 percent of all precincts have made initial vote reports. Slightly more than 3.2 million votes were cast in the Primary Election, which represents 18.3 percent of total registered voters.

For the June 2012 Presidential Primary Election turnout was 31 percent. In the 2010 Primary, 33 percent of registered voter cast ballots. Turnout has never been less than 20 percent since records have been kept starting in 1914.
In races of local interest, Mike Hestrin has a lead of about 13,800 votes over incumbent District Attorney Paul Zellerbach. Nearly 143,300 votes were cast for this office.

In the other contested countywide races, Sheriff Stan Sniff has garnered about 62 percent of the counted vote and leads his challenger Chad Bianco. County Superintendent of Schools Ken Young has a similar lead over his opponent Michael Scott.

In uncontested county races, Peter Aldana will be the next Assessor, county Clerk, Don Kent will return as Treasurer and Tax Collector and Paul Angulo will continue as Auditor/Controller.

In the St. Senate District 28 race, a recount is a very likely possibility given the closeness of the race. The top two vote getters will face each other in the November General Election. Currently, 3rd District Supervisor Jeff Stone has the lead with 21.8 percent of the vote. The next three candidates are very close, Republican Glenn Miller with 19.4 percent of the vote is second. But Republican Bonnie Garcia has 19.3 percent and Democrat Phil Drucker has 19.1 percent.

A total of 77,012 votes were cast. While Stone leads Miller by 1,830 votes, the separation between Miller and the fourth highest, Drucker, is only 263 votes.

It appears that Miller and Garcia split the desert Republican vote allowing Stone to take the western portion of the District. Drucker was second most of the night, but would be the underdog in the November race. However, if Miller remains second, the question is how will Garcia and Drucker’s supporters vote in November.

In the Congressional District 36 race, incumbent U.S. Representative Dr. Raul Ruiz received 50 percent of the vote and St. Asssemblyman Brian Nestande is second with 34.6 percent. Ray Haynes trails with 15.2 percent. The Ruiz and Nestande will face each other in November.

The two propositions — 41 for a bond for veterans’ housing and 42 public records costs — received more than 60 percent of the Riverside vote and easily passed statewide.