Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/neal-kelley/)
Voters will be able to cast ballots at any vote center up to 10 days before Election Day, which includes the two weekends before Election Day. And in a change from the current practice, voters will be allowed to cast their ballot on computers at any vote center in the county, without having to fill out a provisional paper ballot.
Midterm voters turned out in OC at the highest rate in decades and Democrats gained major wins in local Congressional and state legislative seats.
At least 418,600 Orange County ballots were left to count as of Wednesday evening, and “tens of thousands” more are estimated to be still traveling through the mail, so it will be days if not weeks before the outcome of a number of close races are known.
The large share of uncounted ballots could end up affecting the outcomes of races that were close as of the end of election night. The election saw “record numbers for a midterm primary,” said Neal Kelley, the county’s top election official.
The effort to have district elections in place for November seems to have been killed, according to Councilman Vicente Sarmiento, who supports the proposed voting system change.
The city is seeking a court order to force Mayor Miguel Pulido to sign paperwork allowing a June ballot measure in which voters could change Santa Ana’s election system to district-based voting. The case could be filed in Superior Court as soon as Tuesday.
Joe Kerr, who is running for a seat on the OC Board of Supervisors, writes that OC Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley deserves better support from county supervisors on his efforts to improve Orange County’s voting systems.
President Donald Trump’s allegations of widespread voter fraud in California not true in the OC, the OC grand jury says.
Jose F. Moreno, a longtime community activist and nemesis of Anaheim’s business establishment, overcame an election-night deficit to squeak by incumbent Jordan Brandman in the race for the District 3 City Council seat.
Jose Moreno, who is challenging Anaheim City Councilman Jordan Brandman for his seat, caught up to the incumbent Friday as vote counting continued in the neck-and-neck race that will likely determine the direction of the council.