Orange County Midterm Vote Count Complete

Orange County Midterm Vote Count Complete

Voter turnout was remarkably high at 71.0%.  This was last surpassed in midterms in 1970, which achieved about 76%.  But it was almost matched in 1978.  Somehow, 2014 was an all-time low at 44.9%, although the graph only went back to 1930.  The all-time high since 1930 was 81% in 1958.

There are 1,558,988 registered voters in Orange County, and 1,106,729 ballots were cast.  Of those, 480,264 were counted after Election Day.  

For comparison, the  population of Orange County is 3.19 million, of which 2.49 million are older than 18.  There is no count of citizens eligible to vote, and this is a debated topic for the 2020 census.

Relative to key issues and the environment, the census has the mean travel time to work at 27.4 minutes.

Here, we cover three races that are entirely within Orange County, with the counting complete.

CA 45th.

D Katie Porter       158,906 or 52.1%.

R (I) Mimi Walter   146,383 or 47.9%.

The difference is 4.2%.

CA 48th. 

D Harley Rouda.              157,837 or 53.6%. 

R (I) Dana Rohrabacher   138,899 or 46.4%.

The difference is 7.2%.

State Assembly 74th

D Cottie Petrie-Norris.      105,699 or 52.7%.

R (I) Matthew Harper.          94,947 or 47.3%.

The difference is 5.4%.

These are sizable wins for normally Republican districts, where three Republican incumbents were running.

The Orange County retirees newsletter, Voice of OC, pointed out that the Republican get out the vote worked, but that they did not all vote Republican.

I consider it rather insulting to all Californians and Orange County voters when the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, suggests that there is something amiss when the votes counted after Election Day favor Democrats.  He also implied that counting mail-in ballots is somehow wrong.  As usual, no evidence of any wrong-doing is ever presented.  Lots of Republican votes are counted this way also.  Implying that something is wrong is the excuse for trying to limit the ease of voting in California.

Paul Ryan did not run for re-election, but I doubt if he is quitting politics.  As far as implying that something is wrong in California, did I mention that Ryan is from Wisconsin? 

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
This entry was posted in 2018 Midterm Election, Dana Rohrabacher CA 48th, Harley Rouda, Katie Porter, Mimi Walters CA 45th. Bookmark the permalink.

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