SAN DIEGO -- Lidiya Harvey brought her young daughter to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters to cast her ballot in person Tuesday along with hundreds of thousands of San Diegans participating in a handful of special elections throughout the county.
“I think local elections are the most important elections because it starts here and it affects our everyday lives,” Harvey said.
In District Four, voters will choose between Supervisor Candidates Monica Montgomery Steppe, a Democrat, and current San Diego City Councilmember and Republican Amy Reichert to fill the seat left vacant by Nathan Fletcher. Whoever wins will tip the balance of power – now evenly split.
Karyn O’Rear lives in District Four in La Mesa.
“I think that it's important to go vote for the people and go for the people who represent your ideas and your values,” O'Rear said.
Beyond the supervisors’ race, the city of Chula Vista will elect a city attorney, as well as water districts in Rainbow and Fallbrook.
Inside the county registrar of voters, the counting is meticulous, where a machine quickly counts the ballots – separating the good from the bad.
“There’s nearly 600,000 voters across these four districts,” said Cynthia Paes with the San Diego County Registrar of Voters.
With 22 vote centers open until 8 p.m., anyone still in line at that time will be allowed to complete their ballot. And if you still have your ballot in hand, it’s not too late.
“Go ahead and mark your choice in the comfort of your home seal that ballot inside your security return envelope, seal it, sign and date that envelope and you can return it to any one of 48 official ballot drop box locations,” Paes said.
More than a 100,000 mail ballots have already been received, as well as thousands more from the 12 vote centers open for the last 10 days.