Guardian
Just over four hundred voters cast their votes on campus choosing presidential candidates, state and local candidates, as well as voting on state and local initiatives in the March 2 primary elections.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) secured a commanding lead in the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. Meanwhile, Mayor Dick Murphy and Councilman Scott Peters, who each failed to win complete re-elections, will head to the runoff elections in November.
Kerry won in nine out of ten states, leading Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), his last serious opponent to drop out of the race on March 3. In California, Kerry received 64 percent of the votes and Edwards acquired 24 percent.
“The primaries crowned the success of Kerry’s campaign, which had been showing fabulous momentum since his victory in Iowa,” Political science professor Gary Jacobson said. “It also shows a fervent desire within the democrats to replace Bush, and after the Iowa victory, they were convinced that he would be the best candidate in beating President Bush.”
Students voted on campus at two polling locations, one at John Muir College and the other at Price Center. The two sites counted a total turnout of 458 voters, about half as many as during the recall election.
“It looks like people are still voted out from the recall election,” said Price Center assistant precinct manager Jack Buehler. “The presidential part maybe doesn’t seem to be very competitive at this point in time.”
This marked San Diego County’s first use of electronic touchscreen voting, which caused some problems throughout the county. At the Muir polling location, the machines would not start up for the first half-hour of the site’s 7 a.m opening. According to precinct supervisors, only two students came in to vote that early, and both came back later. The precinct had no backup paper ballots.
Students had no problems using the machines, according to the precinct supervisors.
“I was a little bit cautious because I didn’t want to press the wrong button or do anything wrong but it was really straightforward,” Revelle College junior Katie Wax said.
The implications of the election — for the nation, the state and the county — elicited many different reactions from the campus community.
According to political science professor Samuel Popkin, the next few months going into the elections in November will be critical for Kerry as the Republican Party is expected to launch a fierce campaign led by President George W. Bush.
“It’s tricky for Kerry,” Popkin said. “It’s going to be very hard to criticize the commander-in-chief without looking petty, and that’s where he’s got the challenge.”
Meanwhile, the overwhelming votes in California to pass Propositions 57 and 58 were victories, according to some, for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who led a coalition in support of the measures. Proposition 57 will secure a $15 million bond and Proposition 58 mandates the enactment of a balanced-budget for the state. Proposition 57 passed with 63 percent of the votes and Proposition 58 passed with 71 percent.
“It’s a win for the governor because it showed that he was willing to take a political risk by backing an idea that was not initially popular,” political science assistant professor Thad Kousser said. “He was clearly at the front of the campaign raising money and being part of the commercials, and this means an increased influence in Sacramento for him.”
However, according to Kousser, much of the measures’ success can be attributed to the lack of a solid opposition.
The status of another measure on the ballot that would approve a $12.3 billion bond to fund in higher education and public school facilities was too close to call at press time. Proposition 55 received 50 percent “yes” votes and 49 percent “no” votes with some absentee ballots yet to be confirmed as of March 3.
“The apparent passage of Proposition 55 will allow us to move forward with projects in some campuses, including earthquake and life-safety improvements and improvements for some of our research and instructional labs,” UC spokesperson Abby Lunardini said. “We’re very heartened to see the likely passage for this because if it passes, it will go a long way into helping us meet some of those needs that we’ve put off for the past couple of years.”
According to Kousser, the legislature still faces tough decisions in the future even with the bond’s passage.
“California has borrowed enough money as it can afford to over the coming years, and that spells bad news for future bonds,” Kousser said. “There are still tough decisions to be made because there’s still a deficit, but these decisions will be a lot easier with these bonds.”
Prop. 56 received 66 percent of the total votes against it. The initiative would have allowed the state legislature to pass budgets with 55 percent of the vote instead of two-thirds. The measure also would require that legislators and the governor lose salary for each day the budget is late and require that legislature stay in session until a budget is passed.
In San Diego, Murphy will face county supervisor Ron Roberts in a mayoral runoff during the November elections. Murphy received approximately 40 percent of the votes while Roberts garnered about 30 percent.
San Diegans also voted for three local initiatives on the ballot. Proposition A, which would have rezoned property in the country’s backcountry and restrict development, failed with 64 percent of the votes against it.
Proposition C, which would have raised the transient occupancy tax from 10.5 percent to 13 percent, missed the two-thirds majority it needed in order to pass, and received only 61.4 percent as of March 3.
According to urban studies and planning professor Erik Bruvold, the outcome of the elections reflected that San Diegans are worried about the future of the city and were unwilling to raise taxes.
“I think it showed the voters are pretty skeptical about how things are going in the region,” Bruvold said.
As of March 3, Prop. B received 50.1 percent votes in favor and 49.9 percent against it. The initiative deals with the way city council awards its construction contracts.
Meanwhile, Councilman Scott Peters, whose district includes UCSD, will also face runoff elections in November to keep his position against challenger Phil Thalheimer. The District 1 representative obtained approximately 49 percent of the votes, while Thalheimer kept Peters from outright victory with 31 percent of the votes.
“In both cases, the incumbents have to try and address issues with the city’s budget and pension plan,” Bruvold said. “Voters are going to make choices in November based upon the ability of the incumbents to address those issues in the next few months.”
— Additional reporting by Gaëlle Faure, News Editor
