Almost half of all registered SLO County voters have returned their ballots already
Just under half of the local voting population has already returned their vote-by-mail ballots, according to San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong — and more keep flooding in as the county gets closer to Election Day.
According to Gong, his office has received “an unprecedented” 82,795 filled out ballots as of Monday. That represents 45% of the 184,050 total registered voters in the county, he said.
Gong said by this weekend, he expects his office will have received more than 100,000 filled-out vote-by-mail ballots — an almost unheard of number ahead of Election Day.
But that’s not all.
The county also broke its previous voter registration record of more than 176,000 set during the March primary election, Gong said, and could be on track to break other local records like voter turnout.
The highest previous turnout rate was 83.14%, set during the 2008 presidential election, though the most number of ballots counted was during the 2018 election when 139,685 ballots were tallied, Gong said.
Given the numbers his office is currently seeing, SLO County could potentially pass that record this election, Gong said.
“All bets are off the table now,” Gong told The Tribune in an email.
How SLO County’s returned ballots break down
So who has voted already? So far those who have returned their mail-in ballots tend to be older and Democrats, according to data from politicaldata.com.
Though its numbers have not been updated to reflect Monday’s count, as of Friday the California voter data company reported that almost 47% of more than 70,500 ballots returned in SLO County were from voters age 65 and older.
The next highest age demographic was for those between 50 and 64, with 26% of the ballots returned belonging to that age bracket, followed by 14% from those between the ages of 35 and 49.
Younger voters in the 18-to-34 age bracket represented only about 12% of the ballots — 8,586 in total — despite pushes for young voters to turn their ballots in early and despite the number of registered voters in this bracket being larger than the number of registered voters in the 35-49 age group.
In terms of party affiliation, roughly 47% of the ballots returned were to registered Democrats, followed by 31% for registered Republicans and 22% for other parties.
Ballot returns in San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles
Ballot returns down to the city level also show Democrats turning out in force.
In San Luis Obispo, 6,890 Democrats have cast ballots vs. 2,012 Republicans and 2,533 independents. Democrats have a huge registration advantage in SLO. More than half of San Luis Obispo residents are registered Democrat with 15,649 ballots sent out vs. 9,129 independent and 6,078 Republican. As of last week, 37% of all SLO ballots had been returned.
Early Democrat enthusiasm is even carrying over to the North County, where 2,682 Democratic voters have returned ballots vs. 2,366 Republicans and 1,444 independents. That makes up 45% of the total Democratic electorate compared to 32% of Republicans and 28% of independents.
However, the GOP has the most registrations in Paso, with 7,301 voters vs. 5,971 Democrats and 5,111 independents.
Congress, Assembly and statewide returns
Statewide, almost a third of ballots mailed out have been returned — more than 7 million out of 21.9 million. Democrat returns are outnumbering Republican by an almost two-to-one margin — 10.1 million to 5.3 million respectively. In fact, more independents (6.5 million) have returned ballots than Republicans.
In the 24th Congressional District race pitting Congressman Salud Carbjal, D-Santa Barbara against Republican Andy Caldwell, 85,437 Democrat ballots have been returned, compared to 43,964 Republican and 36,463 independent. Some 46% of Democrats have returned their ballots, compared to 35% of Republicans and 30% of independents.
In the 35th District Assembly race between incumbent Jordan Cunningham, R-San Luis Obispo, and challenger Dawn Addis, 47,084 Democrats ballots have been returned vs. 32,530 Republican and 22,295 independent. Again, Democrats are voting an a faster early rate, with 45% having cast their ballots compared to 34% of Republicans and 28% of independents.
For more breakdowns on these races or to look at how early returns look in other local cities, visit politicaldata.com/2020-ballot-returned-tracker-state/.
Check out our Voter Guide
Still deciding how to vote? In The Tribune’s Voter Guide, we’ve compiled information about the candidates as well as their responses on a number of key issues. You can review candidates for your local city council, community service district or school board, State Senate and Assembly, and Congress.
Find The Tribune Voter Guide at sanluisobispo.com/voter-guide.
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