{"id":343748,"date":"2026-06-03T01:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T01:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/343748\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T01:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T01:04:16","slug":"crankiness-thrives-at-both-ends-of-o-c-s-political-spectrum-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/343748\/","title":{"rendered":"Crankiness thrives at both ends of O.C.\u2019s political spectrum \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was like a wake for the aunt nobody really liked. Not a lot of people showed up. The ones who did were a bit sour and surly. And the attendants seemed suspicious, as if you were there to steal the rings off her fingers or something.<\/p>\n

Primary Election Day arrived with more of a growl than a bang on Tuesday as we explored the zeitgeist at the polar opposite ends of O.C.\u2019s political spectrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel, nowadays, it\u2019s all false promises,\u201d said Salvador Romero of Santa Ana, who voted by mail but strolled by the Salgado Recreation Center\u2019s polling place Tuesday to take in the scene. \u201cEverybody has ideas about how to make everything better. But look at everything. It\u2019s crazy!\u201d<\/p>\n

Politically speaking, Santa Ana, we\u2019ll remind you, is bright blue, with 70,230 registered Democrats (49.9% of all registered voters) and just 28,081 registered Republicans (19.9%). No-party preference folks well outnumber Republicans here, with 34,386 (24.4% of the total).<\/p>\n

But the vibe, or lack of it, was much the same in Huntington Beach, where MAGA passions run high.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was considering not voting,\u201d said Lisa Halford as she led her adorable dog Clover from the art deco\/art moderne City Gym & Pool after dropping off her ballot. \u201cI finally took the time to do it last night. There\u2019s no excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surf City, for the record, is among the county\u2019s reddest, politically speaking, with 56,367 registered Republicans (41.4% of all its registered voters); 41,156 registered Democrats (30.2%); and 28,400 (20.9%) no-party preference. Newport Beach has more registered Republicans as a percent of all registered voters (47.6%), as does Villa Park (51.2%), but both cities are much quieter about it.<\/p>\n

Orange County, meanwhile, is a purple swirl: Democrats retain a significant edge, with some 695,000 registrations (36.4%), compared with Republicans\u2019 645,000 (33.8%). And the county\u2019s no-party preference voters, 447,000 (23.4%), can determine winners and losers.<\/p>\n

Porterville
\n\"UC<\/p>\n

UC Irvine graduate student Romeo Ignacio, 27, leaves the campus polling place with an \u201cI Voted\u201d sticker and a smile on Election Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Palo Verde polling center on the UC Irvine campus is open for business on Election Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Voting<\/p>\n

Voting traffic at the Albert D. Salgado Community Center in Santa Ana was slow but steady on Election Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Democratic<\/p>\n

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter takes a picture with Angelo Lugo during a get-out-the-vote rally in Orange on Saturday, May 30, 2026. \u201c \u201cIt\u2019s so important that everyone makes their voice heard before polls close,\u201d Porter texted voters the day before the election. (Photo by Mindy Schauer\/MediaNewsGroup\/Orange County Register via Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n

\"UC<\/p>\n

UC Irvine graduate student Romeo Ignacio, 27, votes at the campus polling place on Election Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"With<\/p>\n

With the company of her dog Clover, Lisa Halford delivers her ballot to the polling center at Huntington Beach City Gym and Pool on Election Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A sign directs voters to the polling center on the UC Irvine campus Voting Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. graduate student Romeo Ignacio, 27, leaves after voting. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 7<\/p>\n

UC Irvine graduate student Romeo Ignacio, 27, leaves the campus polling place with an \u201cI Voted\u201d sticker and a smile on Election Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be real, though. This primary election, despite meh turnout, will determine who makes the November ballot to lead the largest state in the nation and the fourth-largest economy in the world. So a polling place that might exert more political power than you\u2019d expect could be at\u00a0 UC Irvine, close to where UCI law professor and gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter lives.<\/p>\n

Katie Porter! Orange County\u2019s own! We\u2019ve never had a viable gubernatorial candidate before. So, as we headed close to the voting center near her University Hills home, we were psyched to feel some electricity.<\/p>\n

And, indeed, there were more people streaming in and out than we\u2019d seen elsewhere. But sadly, we were chased away by a poll worker who apparently didn\u2019t get the memo that the Fourth Estate has the legal right to be inside polling places (and to take photographs, as long as we don\u2019t show ballot detail or talk to voters inside the vote center).<\/p>\n

We asked poll workers if they\u2019d seen Porter, but only got some long, stern looks. Turns out Porter voted over the weekend, in Newport Beach, which has a nice ironic ring to it, no? (Irvine, incidentally, is far bluer, with registration running 39.1% Democrat, 25.5% Republican and 30.2% no-party preference, according to county data.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important that everyone makes their voice heard before polls close,\u201d said an election-eve missive from Porter. \u201cThat\u2019s the only way we\u2019ll stop the special interests who got California into this mess from buying their preferred candidate into office. \u2026 This race has been flooded with Big Oil money, special interests spending, and a billionaire\u2019s personal fortune. But no amount of cash can silence the voices of Californians ready to make a difference for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n

All quiet<\/p>\n

There are two reasons why polling places were so quiet Tuesday, and perhaps why some poll workers were so glum.<\/p>\n

One is poor turnout. About 28% of the county\u2019s 1.9 million registered voters had cast ballots by midday Tuesday, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters. That\u2019s actually considered good for a primary, which tells you how low our participation expectations have become.<\/p>\n

The other is the popularity of voting by mail. Some 86% of all votes cast thus far have been by mail, according to the registrar.<\/p>\n

By the way, Orange County Republicans clearly don\u2019t buy the evils-of-voting-by-mail thing. The data posted Election Day by the county shows more than 188,000 GOP mail-in returns versus more than 169,000 Democratic ballots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis election cycle, we have stressed the importance of voting early \u2014 and Orange County Republicans have responded in a big way,\u201d the O.C. Republican party said in a cheerful pre-Election Day newsletter. \u201cThanks to your efforts, we have seen historic turnout and tremendous momentum heading into the final days of the Primary Election. But the work is not finished. Thousands of Republican voters have yet to cast their ballots, and those votes could make all the difference on Election Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

It invited folks to make calls to rouse the faithful to the voting booths, promising doughnuts and coffee in the morning and pizza at lunch.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse, now?<\/p>\n

Democracy has gotten really weird. Flaccid Voting Rights Act? Bizarre mid-Census-cycle redistricting? The end of the world as we know it?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a bit polarized,\u201d said Romeo Ignacio, a graduate economics student at UCI with a gift for understatement, after casting his ballot. \u201cIn the moment, it feels awful. But in the long term, the systems are in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Halford of Huntington Beach agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are going to survive,\u201d she said. \u201cThere will be bumps along the way. It is what it is. What can you do? Just treat people kindly and get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On this Election Day, it might help to remember that we aren\u2019t the first to feel a bit despondent.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps you and I have lived too long with this miracle to properly be appreciative,\u201d California Gov. Ronald Reagan said at his inauguration back in 1967. <\/a>\u201cFreedom is a fragile thing, and it\u2019s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly, by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.\u00a0 And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

OK, perhaps that makes me even more nervous. Forget I mentioned it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was like a wake for the aunt nobody really liked. Not a lot of people showed up.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,100],"class_list":["post-343748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}