Senator Boxer Votes Early in Riverside County

Senator Barbara Boxer arrived at the Riverside County Registrar of Voters Wednesday to grab a ballot.

The Rancho Mirage resident says she was planning to vote absentee, but decided to take care of it in-person and talk about the advantages of early voting.

“You have lots of time to contemplate who you’re going to vote for — propositions you support or oppose. There’s not a lot of lines, so that’s a good reason to do it,” said Boxer.

Going for a fourth senate term, Boxer is facing two other democrats in the primary, but she’s already looking ahead to a battle with whoever wins the GOP race.

“Now it’ll be down to one-on-one. It’s a better fight for us. We’re excited about it,” said Boxer.

It’s still too early to tell if voters are excited.

350,000 vote-by-mail ballots were sent to voters in Riverside County.

About 50,000 have been returned.

Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore says, at this point, the response is less than half of what was expected.

“Voters may be taking the time to make their decisions. The gubernatorial primary is not a primary where we typically see the large percentage turnouts. We don’t expect a huge turnout for this election. So it may just be some of the voters are going to sit this one out,” said Dunmore.