Editor’s note: The Riverside County Registrar of Voters Office says there are about 100,000 votes yet to count, therefore, results for individual precincts are not available.
Turnout
As of 6 p.m. Friday, June 10, 280,000 Riverside County votes had been counted. The countywide turnout was about 31 percent. This exceeds the turnout in the 2014 primary when county turnout was a total of 198,000 voters (22 percent) and the last presidential primary in 2012, when 238,000 county residents voted (28 percent).
The statewide turnout (as of noon, Monday, June 13) was about 37 percent of registered voters.
Statewide elections
According to the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton easily won the California Democratic Presidential Primary. With 100 percent of all precincts reporting, she garnered 2.1 million votes, about 475,000 more than Sen. Bernie Sanders, to win the primary with 56 percent of the ballots cast in her favor.
Clinton’s win dominated statewide. Sanders prevailed in only three districts and Clinton earned more than 60 percent of the vote in six of the state’s 53 congressional districts. In District 36, which includes the Hill, she had 65.7 percent of the vote, which was the highest percentage of all the districts. Riverside County voters gave Clinton nearly 60 percent of their votes.
In the Republican primary, for which Donald Trump had already claimed the nomination, he easily received the majority of votes. Statewide, nearly three-quarters of Republican voters cast a ballot for him. John Kasich was second with 11 percent of the vote and Ted Cruz was third with 9 percent.
In Riverside County, Trump’s support was slightly higher at 82 percent and Kasich was second at 7.4 percent, narrowly beating Cruz by 200 votes.
In the race to replace retiring U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, state Attorney General Kamala Harris collected 40 percent of the vote among 34 candidates. The second-highest vote getter is a fellow Democrat, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who received 18.4 percent of the vote. Duf Sundheim was the leading Republican with 8 percent of the total state vote.
Riverside County voters gave Harris only 29 percent of the vote and Sanchez finished with 19 percent. Sundheim was still the leading Republican with 12 percent of the total vote.
In a top-two election, the two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, face off in the general election. Thus, Harris and Sanchez, both Democrats, will vie to replace Boxer in the U.S. Senate next December.
Proposition 50, which would authorize suspending certain legislators, was easily approved, receiving 75.4 percent of the vote statewide and 73.5 percent in Riverside County.
Local Races
3rd District Supervisor
The race for the county’s 3rd District supervisor will continue to the November election. Incumbent Chuck Washington was the leading vote getter with 40 percent. Challenging him in the fall campaign will be Hemet City Councilwoman Shellie Milne who received 31.6 percent of the vote. Randon Lane, the Murrieta mayor, trailed Milne by 1,780 votes. His total was 28.4 percent.
Until a final tally is available, Milne is not ready to declare victory. On Tuesday morning, she said, “We still have ballots to count countywide, but our trending has been solid ... We are forgoing all the celebrations until the last ballot is counted ... I am cautiously optimistic, though. “
Washington, a clear victor going onto November said, “I am feeling confident for the November election, in part due to my 15 months of experience as the county supervisor and nearly 12 years of success as a Temecula councilman. I did not expect to see Milne defeat Lane … largely because Mayor Lane has been a part of Murrieta’s success for nearly eight years …”
In the other supervisorial race, 1st District Supervisor Kevin Jeffries easily was re-elected with nearly 60 percent of the vote.
Congressional District 36
U.S. Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz was the leading vote getter with 57 percent of ballots cast. But in a top-two race in November, he will still face State Sen. Jeff Stone, who received 33 percent. In a distant third-place finish with 10 percent was Stephan “Steven” Wolkowicz.
State Assembly District 71
Most of State Assembly District 71 is in San Diego County, but a small portion of Riverside County, including the Hill precincts, are in the district. All three candidates seeking to replace term-limit Assemblyman Brian Jones are Republican.
Randy Voepel gained 60 percent of all votes, followed by Leo Hamel with 28 percent, although he said before the election that he had withdrawn from the race. Tony Teora trailed in third with 12 percent.
In Riverside County, the order was the same, but Voepel’s support was barely 52 percent and Hamel earned 33 percent of the vote.
