County vote mirrors statewide results

Wednesday, February 6, 2008
By Aaron Kinney / MediaNews

There was no late surge for Sen. Barack Obama, either locally or statewide, despite recent polls showing he'd closed the gap on Sen. Hillary Clinton among California voters for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain cruised to victory both on the Peninsula and across the state, scoring a decisive victory over his chief opponents, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Voters in San Mateo County mirrored their counterparts throughout California in the presidential primary, flocking to the polls in high numbers, though they differed significantly on several state ballot measures.

With 211 out of 553 precincts reporting Tuesday, Clinton was ahead of Obama 55 to 36 percent. Statewide, the figure was 55 to 34 percent with 27 percent of precincts reporting.

In the Republican race, McCain had 50 percent of the vote countywide, compared to 23 and 11 percent for Romney and Huckabee, respectively. McCain had 44 percent of the vote throughout California.

Millbrae mayor and Clinton booster Gina Papan said she wasn't shocked by the former first lady's wide margin of victory.

"I think people have realized that her experience and her longtime fight for a litany of issues, including health care and the economy, are important as a leader for this country," said Papan, speaking from a party for Clinton supporters at Harry's on Fillmore in San Francisco.

Andrew Byrnes, chairman of the San Mateo County Democratic Party, said Clinton's long history with state and local voters may have helped her to victory, though he added that the nomination process nationally is "far from over."

"I am surprised that Clinton won with such a large majority in California and here in the county," Byrnes acknowledged.

Peninsula voters appeared to buck the statewide trend with respect to five of seven state propositions. Propositions 94, 95, 96 and 97 -- referendums on four Indian gaming compacts -- were headed to comfortable victories Tuesday, with 57 percent of the voters approving the agreements.

In San Mateo County, however, the measures were failing by a narrow margin, with 52 percent of voters rejecting the compacts.

A majority of county voters rejected Propositions 91 and 92, which would have changed funding mechanisms for state transportation projects and community colleges. The measures failed in similar proportions across the state.

But while state voters were on the verge of rejecting Prop. 93, which would rejigger term limits for state legislators, county voters narrowly favored the measure by 51 to 49 percent.

If Prop. 93 fails, Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, will step down, clearing the way for Papan, County Supervisor Jerry Hill and Richard Holober, a trustee for the San Mateo County Community College District, to compete for his 19th Assembly District seat.

Final turnout figures are not yet known, but County Elections Manager David Tom said he anticipates that turnout may rise above 60 percent.

Byrnes said he heard a handful of reports of precincts running out of paper ballots for voters who declined to state their party affiliation. Though county elections officials dispatched 1,800 electronic voting machines to polling locations, paper ballots were still available upon request.

Papan said the Millbrae Library called elections officials and asked them to deliver additional paper ballots.

Tom said elections workers delivered extra ballots to "a good number" of precincts.