Low Turnout, Liberal Bent for Santa Monica Voters

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

March 5 -- Presidential primaries, senatorial races and four state propositions worth millions failed to inspire Santa Monicans to flock to the polls on “Super Tuesday,” as the city posted its lowest primary election returns since 1996, according to preliminary election results obtained by The Lookout.

Santa Monicans’ choices mostly mirrored statewide voting trends, approving three out of four state budget propositions (55, 57 and 58) and tapping Sen. John Kerry as the Democratic presidential nominee by a 62 percent landslide, according to he LA County Registrar’s Office.

Senator Kerry will spend the next eight months campaigning against President Bush in what is expected to be a hotly contested battle for the White House.

Only 17,792 (about 33 percent) of the nearly 54,600 registered local voters cast ballots Tuesday, well below the 23,148 (43 percent) votes cast in the 2000 primaries and 27,401 (48 percent) in last October’s recall election.

Tuesday’s preliminary results, however, do not include many absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted, although it is unlikely they would amount to more than a couple of thousand votes. The final tallies will not be available for another month, according to Kathy Catawy, a spokeswoman for the registrar’s office.

In the 1996 presidential primaries, 17,360 Santa Monicans, or 32 percent, cast ballots. Since 1996, the total number of registered voters locally has ranged between about 53,800 and 57,198.

In the Democratic primary, Sen. Kerry, the frontrunner since the Iowa caucuses reinvigorated his campaign, received the lion’s share of local votes, with 7,316 of the nearly 11,844 votes cast. Sen. John Edwards finished second with 2,371 votes (20 percent) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich third with 1,126 (10 percent).

The local results mirrored the statewide vote, which gave Kerry 64 percent and Edwards 20 percent. Kucinich -- widely considered the most liberal Democrat on the ticket -- fared better in Santa Monica, with 10 percent of the vote, than he did statewide, were he received 4 percent.

The remaining Democratic candidates garnered a total of 1,030 votes, with Dean receiving 457 votes and Reverend Al Sharpton, Gen. Wesley Clark and Rep. Joseph Lieberman, receiving less than 200 votes each.

In Santa Monica, where two of the seven City Council members belong to the Green Party, only 149 Presidential primary votes were cast for Green Party candidate Peter Camejo

“That sounds unexpectedly low. I would question that number,” said Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown, who along with Councilman Michael Feisntein is a member of the Green Party. “I know I voted absentee.”

Some experts believe the introduction in California of the “modified primary” or “closed party system” Tuesday kept local voters away. Under the system, only Democrats and non-affiliated party voters could vote in the Democratic primary. The same holds true for the Republican primary, where Bush picked up 2,407 votes.

“The low turnout, even for a primary, is a direct reflection of voter’s dislike of the ‘closed party system,’” said Sharon Gilpen, a Seattle-based political consultant with a thorough knowledge of Santa Monica politics. “A 21st century trend is that many people no longer identify with a party, but consider the ‘person’ or the ‘issue’ and vote accordingly.”

“The closed system basically tells many people not to bother,” said Gilpen, a former Planning Commissioner. “Even using the non-affiliated voter designation is a bit of a turnoff. People are interested in their privacy, including party choice. More voters consider themselves ‘independent.”

In the local Democratic primary, 949 non-affiliated voters cast their ballots in Santa Monica.

Another reason for the low turnout, experts said, was the widespread perception that the presidential primary and senatorial races were already decided.

“Low turnout could be explained by the absence of a challenger to Senator Barbara Boxer,” said Elizabeth Garret, director of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics, and a USC professor and Santa Monica resident. “By the time of the vote there wasn’t much of a contest for the Democratic presidential primary either.”

As with the Democratic primary, Santa Monica voters hewed closely to California’s vote tallies when it came to propositions 55, 57 and 58, which passed, although they bucked the statewide trend when it came to 56, which failed.

The defeated proposition would have required 55 percent of the state legislature’s vote to adopt a state budget, rather than a two-thirds majority.

While 51 percent of Santa Monicans (8,468) voted against Proposition 56, 63 percent of statewide voters soundly defeated the measure, which taxpayer groups characterized as a way to raise taxes.

“Very interestingly, Santa Monica was almost evenly split on Proposition 56, (which) suggests that residents are not as opposed to higher taxes as the rest of the state,” Garrett said. “Perhaps (Santa Monicans) are more influenced by the support of unions and teachers’ groups. Both supported Prop 56.”

When it came to the two measures backed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger -- Propositions 57 and 58 -- Santa Monicans were more lukewarm than voters statewide.

While Prop 57 -- a one-time $15 billion bond to bridge the state budget deficit -- garnered 63 percent of the vote statewide, it received the support of 59 percent of Santa Monica voters.

Similarly, Prop 58 -- a state balanced budget act that designates an $8 billion reserve -- was backed by 71 percent of California voters, compared to 65 percent of the local voters.

Santa Monica's more liberal bent was also shown in Prop 55 -- which established a $12.3 billion bond that provides $920 million over the next two years for California community colleges for building projects. The measure received the support of 60 percent of Santa Monica voters, compared to 51 percent of voters statewide.