2020 presidential election

California Primary 2020: San Francisco voters wait until Super Tuesday to cast ballot

ByAmy Hollyfield KGO logo

Monday, March 2, 2020

SF voters wait until Super Tuesday to cast ballot for CA primary

San Francisco election officials say early voting turn out has been lower than they expected, ahead of Super Tuesday on March 3, 2020. The city has received only 85,000 mail ballots, when it was expected to receive around 115,000 by this point.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco elections officials say early voting turn out has been lower than they expected.

"So far around 4,000 people have voted early here at City Hall. We have received about 85,000 vote by mail ballots. We had expected to get around 115,000 by this point," said Director of elections John Arntz.

Elections experts believe Californians waited to see the results of the South Carolina primary before making their decision.

One voter couldn't believe how empty the election center was Monday morning in San Francisco.

"There's a full contingent here, ready to do work, and there's no one here. There's five other people voting. I am shocked," said Eric Thrasher as he handed in his ballot.

Waiting has its advantages. Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer dropped out of the race over the weekend. Senator Amy Klobucher dropped out Monday. Voters who selected them cannot get their ballots back.

"That's a done deal, yeah," Arntz said.

We did meet two women who filled out their ballots on Saturday but, because of the candidates who dropped out, they came to City Hall on Monday to get new blank ballots to fill out.

San Francisco resident Javier Chen dropped his ballot off Monday morning at the curbside drop off location. He waited so he would have the most information possible.

"I am just making sure I am fully informed on my vote," he said.

Thrasher is hoping turn out picks up tomorrow.

"Maybe folks are sitting around trying to make up their mind and we will get a big boom tomorrow. Maybe they're doing what most of us do and not taking this seriously. This is, I think, the most important primary in years," Thrasher said.

ABC7 ORIGINALS: Watch 'Chasing California: The Race for Super Tuesday'

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

See more Chasing California videos here.

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