Election 2004: County voters buck national trend, back Democrats Election 2004: County voters buck national trend, back Democrats (November 10, 2004)

By Andrea Gemmet
Almanac Staff Writer

For San Mateo County Democrats, who outnumber registered Republicans 2-1, election day was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.

While nationally, President George W. Bush won a narrow but decisive victory, and Republican candidates made gains in the U.S. Congress and in state governorships, in San Mateo County, Democrats ruled the day.

Sen. John Kerry was the people's choice for president, winning nearly 70 percent of the vote. Sen. Barbara Boxer had an even bigger margin, trouncing Republican Bill Jones 71 percent to 26 percent, and Rep. Ann Eshoo got nearly three times as many votes as conservative Chris Haugen, winning 73 percent to 24 percent.

On the state level, Democrats easily held onto their seats in the Legislature. Joe Simitian took 69 percent of the vote for the state Senate's 11th District against Republican Jon Zellhoefer; and Democrat Ira Ruskin is the apparent winner of the expensive, hotly contested race for the 21st Assembly District seat, with his opponent, Republican newcomer Steve Poizner, conceding defeat on Monday.

As of Monday, Mr. Ruskin had 56 percent of the vote to Mr. Poizner's 44 percent in San Mateo County, although there were about 30,000 absentee ballots and 11,000 provisional ballots still to be counted, according to Elections Manager David Tom. The 21st Assembly District includes Santa Clara County, where 20,000 ballots are still uncounted. Not all of the ballots are necessarily in the Assembly district.

The uncounted votes put in limbo the results of the race for one of two Menlo Park City Council seats. Planning Commissioner Kelly Fergusson is the top vote-getter, but vying for second place is newcomer Andrew Cohen, who was 34 votes ahead of Planning Commissioner Lorie Sinnott at press-time Monday.

Local voters overwhelmingly agreed to tax themselves, with the Sequoia High School district bond and Measure A, the half-cent sales tax, both passing; but in Atherton, voters turned down a renewal of the parcel tax that costs most homeowners $750 a year.

County voters overwhelmingly supported successful state propositions, including 1A (local revenue protection), 59 (open government), and 71 (stem cell research). Proposition 66, to scale back the three-strikes law, was favored by 54 percent of county voters, but was defeated statewide by 53 percent of voters.

Voter apathy was not a problem in this election. If the busy polling places and the sheer number of people wearing "I voted" stickers last Tuesday weren't enough of an indication, the San Mateo County Elections Office reported a huge turnout of the county's 368,410 registered voters. By the time all the ballots are counted, the voter turnout should reach 78 percent of registered voters, said Mr. Tom.

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