Could you smell the election in the air?

The presidential race is close and the stakes are high. Efforts have increased this year to get more voters- especially young voters- to be active in this democratic process. There are 2,026,537 eligible voters in San Diego County, with a record-high of 60 percent of them (around 15.7 million) being registered. Thirty-five percent of the registered voters are Democrats, 39 percent are Republicans, 2.4 percent are Independents and .6 percent are members of the Green Party. More people declined to the state this year than any other year on record, leaving less people voting as a particular political party. The 2004 presidential election's registration percent was 68.95 percent and this year's election's registration percent has slightly decreased to 68.47 percent.

The obvious return to traditional paper ballots slowed down the tallying process and therefore resulted in a long night, but it will ensure accuracy.

In San Diego County, Sen. Hillary Clinton won 50.5 percent of the Democratic votes with Sen. Barack Obama winning 43.3 percent. In the Republican race, Sen. John McCain won 40.1 percent, Gov. Mitt Romney came in a close second place at 38 percent and former Gov. Mike Huckabee received only 9.4 percent of the votes from the county.

Twenty-four states voted yesterday, Feb. 5. Clinton and McCain won California, getting 52 and 42 percent of their parties' votes respectively. The delegate count leaves Clinton in a short lead over Obama while McCain has a secure lead over the other Republican candidates.


Primaries the candidates have won:
CLINTON: Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan and New Hampshire.
OBAMA: Georgia, New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut, Missouri, Utah, Deleware and South Carolina.
MCCAIN: Arizona, New Jersey, New York, California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Missouri, Delawar, Florida, South Carolina and New Hampshire.
ROMNEY: Massachusetts, Utah and Michigan.
HUCKABEE: Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama and Tenessee.

States that still have to vote:
Saturday, Feb. 9- Louisiana primaries, Washington ccaucuses, Kansas Republican caucus and Nebraska caucus.
Sunday, Feb. 10- Maine Democratic caucuses
Tuesday, Feb. 12- D.C., Maryland and Virginia primaries
Tuesday, Feb. 19- Hawaii Democratic caucuses, and Washington and Wisconsin primaries


How San Diegans voted on the Propositions:
Prop 91: Transportation funds- 54 percent voted NO
Prop 92: Community college funding- 59 percent voted NO
Prop 93: Limits on legislatures' terms in office- 52 percent voted NO
Prop 94: Indian gaming compact- 60 percent voted YES
Prop 95: Indian gaming compact- 60 percent voted YES
Prop 96: Indian gaming compact- 59 percent voted YES
Prop 97: Indian gaming compact- 60 percent voted YES


How Californians voted on the Propositions:
Prop 91- 58 percent voted NO
Prop 92- 57 percent voted NO
Prop 93- 54 percent voted NO
Prop 94- 56 percent voted YES: passed
Prop 95- 56 percent voted YES: passed
Prop 96- 56 percent voted YES: passed
Prop 97- 56 percent voted YES: passed