LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Latest on California’s primary election (all times local):
11:46 a.m.
Some California counties are reporting light traffic at polling stations but officials point out many voters are mailing in their ballots.
At Berkeley City Hall most of the voters showing up were dropping off ballots they had received by mail.
In Kern County, Clerk Auditor Susan Rooney says 49,000 out of the 233,000 mail ballots sent out have been turned in as of Tuesday morning.
She says a curbside drop-off for mail-in ballots near her office is seeing a slow but steady turnout.
In Fresno County, no lines are being reported but County Clerk Brandi Orth says voters usually come out at lunch time or after work.
Orth says she saw a "handful of voters" at the stations she visited Tuesday morning.
___
10:27 a.m.
Voters are expressing a sense of duty as they cast ballots in California’s primary election.
Thirty-seven-year-old Cecilia Arteaga held her 1½-year-old daughter on her hip as she voted Tuesday at a San Diego assisted living facility. Arteaga says she knows her child doesn’t understand but she still wants to show her the importance of exercising the right to vote.
In San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood, 42-year-old Sean Spicer, who works in marketing, says voting is a civic duty, though he doesn’t like California’s top two primary system, which he says means voting for people "who you think can win not who you believe in."
In Huntington Beach, preschool teacher Evelyn Corado says she also feels it’s her responsibility to vote. As a naturalized U.S. citizen who came from El Salvador three decades ago, Corado says she votes to raise her voice for those immigrants who can’t yet do so.
___
9:30 a.m.
Voters are casting ballots in California’s primary election, setting the stage for November races.
Traffic at polling stations is expected to be light Tuesday because many people have voted in advance.
In San Diego, 42-year-old Sean Spicer says he voted because it’s a civic duty, although he doesn’t like California’s top-two primary system.
In Los Angeles, gubernatorial candidate and former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was among a few early morning voters casting ballots in the library at Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is the front-runner in the race for governor and polls show a surge by Republican businessman John Cox. Other major candidates are state Treasurer John Chiang, former education Superintendent Delaine Eastin and Assemblyman Travis Allen.
President Donald Trump tweeted support for Cox.
(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
