San Rafael, CA – Following the Marin County Board of Supervisors’ ratification of the local November 6 Statewide General Election results, there are a few statistics about voter tendencies that stand out.
The Board accepted the canvass of votes offered by Register of Voters Lynda Roberts at the December 11 meeting at the Marin County Civic Center. Roberts had certified the election, declaring all votes recorded, on November 30 and reported to the State of California.
Voter turnout was 82.44 percent, a Marin record for a midterm election and over 22 percentage points higher than the 2014 midterm election. Of 160,634 registered voters, 132,434 ballots were verified and processed in this election.
“The high turnout is what I’ll remember most about this election,” Roberts said. “Also, one of the biggest changes we saw from the 2014 midterm election was the new law allowing people to register and vote in our Elections Department after the 15-day close of the registration deadline. More than 500 people were able to participate in this election as a result of the new law.”
Roberts also reported these interesting facts from the election:
- 97,450 people (74 percent) voted by mail
- 34,984 people (26 percent) voted at polling stations
- 6,681 people (5.1 percent) filed provisional ballots
- 23,995 people (18 percent) hand-delivered vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots
- Precinct with the highest turnout by percentage: Tam Valley Community Center off Tennessee Valley Road (#31219), 94.31 percent
- Precinct with highest number of votes cast: Ross Valley Fire Station No. 20 on Butterfield Road in Sleepy Hollow (#20816), 1,660 ballots
- Precinct with highest percentage of VBM votes: Northeast section of the Town of Tiburon (#31116), 70.4 percent
- Number of people who registered to vote and voted within 14 days of the election: 501
- Age group with highest number of those who registered to vote and voted within 14 days of the election: 25-34
- Number of votes received by Elections Department from post offices or polling places between November 2 and November 8: 55,000
- Number of those votes that arrived on November 6, Election Day: 34,000
The voter turnout percentages by age group were as follows:
- Age 18-24: 56.2 percent (79.6 percent by VBM ballot)
- Age 25-34: 64.9 percent (71.4 VBM)
- Age 35-44: 79.2 percent (69.0 VBM)
- Age 45-54: 83.4 percent (67.4 VBM)
- Age 55-64: 87.3 percent (70.8 VBM)
- Age 65-74: 91.5 percent (76.3 VBM)
- Age 75 and older: 88.5 percent (82.2 VBM)
Additional information about election results reporting and processing vote-by-mail and provisional ballots can be found on the California Secretary of State’s website.