Voting begins in South Bay’s crowded special election for county supervisor – San Diego Union-Tribune
South County voters have been mailed their ballots and can start returning them in the special election for District 1 county supervisor.
Ballots were mailed over the weekend, and drop boxes throughout the district opened this week. In-person voting has also begun at county election offices in Kearny Mesa, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Seven more vote centers will open March 29, and another 13 will be open April 8, the last day of the election.
Voters can also drop their completed ballot in the mail any day until then, including on Election Day itself.
The district has been without a supervisor since early January, when Supervisor Nora Vargas unexpectedly stepped down rather than serve out the second term to which she had just been elected.
Her departure set in motion a new effort to fill the seat and a flurry of filings by seven candidates to run for it.
Seven people qualified for the special ballot — three Democrats, three Republicans and one candidate who is neither.
The Democrats include Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Chula Vista Councilmember Carolina Chavez and San Diego Councilmember Vivian Moreno.
The Republicans are Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, businessman Louis Fuentes and Lincoln Pickard. Energy consultant Elizabeth Efird is affiliated with neither party.
If any of the seven candidates wins at least 50% of the vote next month, they could be sworn in by early May. But if no one wins a majority outright, a runoff will be held July 1, and the winner won’t be sworn in until August.
District 1 leans heavily Democratic, with more than twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. But some people have wondered if Vargas’ departure could cost the board its Democratic majority.
Special elections typically yield lower turnout, as they take place outside the general election schedule and often decide only one race. That was the case two years ago in District 4.
And countywide, San Diego County voter turnout in the November 2024 election was the lowest for a presidential election in 20 years.
Former staff writer Emily Alvarenga contributed to this report.
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