Voter Turnout a Sorry Lesson in Civics : Close Election Races in the County Demonstrate That Every Ballot Does Count

A woman in Maine, explaining her absence from the voting booth said, “I don’t vote--it only encourages them.” Well, candidates, and the community, didn’t get much encouragement in Orange County last Tuesday. Only three out of every 10 registered voters bothered to go to the polls. That’s an all-time low in voter turnout.

Whether the reason was apathy, disgust, disinterest, or whatever, it’s a sorry lesson in civics.

If the voters who stayed home don’t think their vote counted, just look at the election results--and ask some of the candidates about the value of one vote.

For instance, in Dana Point, where 12 candidates were running for three seats on the City Council, Ernest A. Nelson missed being elected by just 20 votes out of more than 19,000 in the city’s 31 precincts. That’s less than one vote per precinct.

The same thing happened in the bitterly contested race for the Republican nomination in the 70th Assembly District where nomination is tantamount to election. Thomas G. Reinecke came in just 250 votes behind Marilyn C. Brewer out of 40,321 cast in the district’s 350 voting precincts. Losing in the same way were the Democratic nominee in the 46th Congressional District and several candidates in Central Committee races.

In the 46th District, Robert J. Banuelos, who was the nominee in 1992, lost by just 142 votes out of 15,638 votes cast in the district’s 259 precincts. Alberta Christy running for election to the Republican Central Committee in the 69th District lost by less than one vote per precinct as did two Democratic Central Committee candidates in the 67 and 68th districts.

Some of the results could change. There are still thousands of absentee ballots to be counted before the election is declared official. A few more of the votes cast could help change the outcome of some of the races. The votes not cast certainly did.