SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Seven voting centers opened today for the District 1 Supervisor special election in San Diego County. The election comes after former District Supervisor Nora Vargas announced her resignation last December shortly after winning re-election.
Voting centers in Chula Vista were noticeably slow on Saturday. However, the Office of the Registrar says that's normal for special elections.
"This is extremely important," said Maggie Vinson, a Chula Vista resident who was eager to cast her ballot today.
"I can't even stress how important it is. We want to make sure that Chulavians still have all of their rights on having gas stoves and getting someone in office that has common sense," Vinson said.
On the ballot is Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, whose campaign focuses on public safety, the sewage crisis, veteran services, homelessness and balancing the budget.
Running against him is Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, whose big focus is on homelessness, crime and addressing the sewage crisis.
The Office of Registrar says special elections typically have a lower turnout.
"We could look back at historic turnout of similar elections. The April 8th first supervisorial special primary election, we saw nearly an 18% turnout in that election. And for the primary election for Board of Supervisors fourth district back on August 15, 2023, we saw a little over a 24% turnout," said Cynthia Paes, Registrar of Voters.
Paes says they've sent out over 370,000 ballots in the mail to registered voters in District 1. So far, over 43,000 have been returned.
"You're electing your representatives that make many of those local decisions that impact you. So it is important to participate, educate yourself and participate in these local elections," Paes said.
The voting centers will be open between now and July 1 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Listed below are the seven voting centers currently open to the public:
- Bonita Vista Middle School cafeteria, 650 Otay Lakes Road in Chula Vista
- Chula Vista City Hall, 276 4th Ave.
- MAAC Community Center, 1387 3rd Ave.
- South Bay Union School District Education Center (Burress Auditorium), 601 Elm Ave. in Imperial Beach
- Mountain View Community Center (back meeting room), 641 S Boundary St. in San Diego
- San Ysidro Senior Center, 125 E Park Ave. in the San Ysidro neighborhood
- Spring Valley Community Center (Olsen Room), 8735 Jamacha Blvd.
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