June 12, 2012 > Presidential Primary Election Results, June 5, 2012 Presidential Primary Election Results, June 5, 2012 (Sources: Alameda County Registrar of Voters and California Secretary of State) U.S. Representative, 15th Congressional District (Vote for 1) District Contra Costa County Alameda County Fortney Pete Stark (D) 37,961 41.9% 3,400 33.3% 34,561 43.0% Eric Swalwell (D) 32,895 36.3% 4,101 40.2% 28,794 35.9% Christopher ''Chris'' J. Pareja (DTS) 19,650 21.7% 2,699 26.5% 16,951 21.1% U.S. Representative, 17th Congressional District (Vote for 1) District Santa Clara County Alameda County Mike Honda (D) 53,032 66.4% 41,594 67.3% 11,438 63.6% Evelyn Li (R) 22,174 27.8% 16,679 27.0% 5,495 30.5% Charles Richardson (DTS) 4,622 5.8% 3,562 5.8% 1,060 5.9% California State Assembly, District 20 (Vote for 1) This District is entirely in Alameda County Bill Quirk (D) 16,433 30.4% Jennifer Ong (D) 13,898 25.7% Mark Green (DTS) 11,017 20.4% Luis Reynoso (R) 9,520 17.6% Sarabjit Kaur Cheema (D) 3,149 5.8% California State Assembly, District 25(Vote for 1) District Santa Clara County Alameda County Bob Wieckowski (D) 19,544 42.2% 10,738 34.2% 8,806 58.7% Arlyne Diamond (R) 14,081 30.4% 9,859 31.4% 4,222 28.2% Pete ''Primo'' McHugh (D) 12,731 27.5% 10,767 34.3% 1,964 13.1% DEM - County Central Committee, 20th Assembly District (Vote for up to 7) Richard Valle 15,399 12.66% Ginny Demartini 15,163 12.47% Ryan ''Rocky'' Fernandez 13,885 11.42% Sybil R. Smith 13,290 10.93% John R. Smith 12,159 10.00% Vinnie Bacon 11,060 9.09% Deneen Ogbeide 11,015 9.06% Shobana Ramamurthi 8,748 7.19% Rick Trullinger 7,212 5.93% Saleacia Taylor 6,786 5.58% James P. Farley Jr. 6,739 5.54% Write-In 182 0.15% DEM - County Central Committee, 25th Assembly District (Vote for up to 3) Patricia 'Pat' Danielson 4,132 26.33% Nancy Thomas 3,437 21.90% Paul Sethy 2,128 13.56% Jan Giovannini-Hill 1,628 10.37% Sergio U. Santos 1,302 8.30% Sharlene S. Mansfield 1,042 6.64% Debra O. Pearson 993 6.33% Dharminder Dewan 666 4.24% Alex Hilke 333 2.12% Write-In 33 0.21% Alameda County Superior Court Judge Office 20 (Vote for 1) Tara M. Flanagan 87,615 50.56% Andrew R. Wiener 52,098 30.06% Catherine Haley 32,285 18.63% Write-In 1,308 0.75% Alameda County Board of Education, Trustee, Area 4 (Vote for 1) Aisha Knowles 12,895 52.02% Geraldine Sonobe 11,698 47.19% Write-In 196 0.79% Alameda County Supervisor, District 1 (Vote for 1) Scott Patrick Haggerty 29,513 97.52% Write-In 750 2.48% Alameda County Supervisor, District 4 (Vote for 1) Nate Miley 30,842 71.62% Tojo Thomas 11,937 27.72% Write-In 286 0.66% Alameda County Supervisor, District 5 (Vote for 1) Keith Carson 37,269 97.98% Write-In 767 2.02% Hayward City Council (Vote for 4) Barbara Halliday 8,091 18.51% Greg Jones 7,098 16.24% Al Mendall 7,035 16.09% Francisco Zerme–o 6,782 15.51% Olden Henson 6,267 14.34% Peter Bufete 2,500 5.72% Ralph Farias Jr 2,292 5.24% Shahla Azimi 1,969 4.50% Fahim A. Khan 1,602 3.66% Write-In 80 0.18% Hayward Unified School District Measure G (66.67 percent to pass) Yes 11,992 votes 70.52% No 5,014 votes 29.48% New Haven Unified School District Measure H (66.67 percent to pass) Yes 5,994 votes 62.51% No 3,595 votes 37.49% Proposition 28 Limits on Legislators' Terms in Office (majority approval required) Yes 2,652,766 votes 61.20% No 1,679,049 votes 38.80% Proposition 29 Tax on Cigarettes for Cancer Research (majority approval required) Yes 2,193,542 votes 49.60% No 2,230,666 votes 50.40% Re-districting, following Census 2010, may have favored some candidates. This is probably more noticeable in the race for the new State Assembly District 25 most of which is in Santa Clara County and part of which is in Alameda County. Milpitas Vice Mayor and former Santa Clara County Supervisor Pete McHugh narrowly beat Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) in Santa Clara County but secured the support of only 13 percent of the ballots cast in Alameda County, where he is less well-known, pushing him into third place, District-wide, behind Arlyne M. Diamond (R). Less than a third of registered voters within Alameda County cast their votes in the Presidential Primary on June 5, 2012. Of the County's 752,331 registered voters, 157,275 (20.91 percent) were absentee voters while only 66,750 (8.87 percent) went to the polls. A total of 224,025 (29.78 percent) ballots were cast. Clearly, an overwhelming majority of those who voted, prefer to do so by mail; absentee ballots may be cast well in advance of Election Day, starting May 7 for the June 5, 2012 Presidential Primary Election. Alameda County has approximately three-and-a-half times as many registered Democrats (423,266) as registered Republicans (114,373). In real terms, Republican turnout amounted to 37.40 percent compared to 32.95 percent by Democrats but this translates to 42,773 votes cast (29,564 votes-by-mail and 13,209 on Election Day) and 139,455 (96,795 absentee ballots and 42,660 at the polls), respectively. This might account substantially for the strong performance of Democrat candidates. Some Democrats fared badly; for some, a bad campaign and/or perceived weaknesses were the cause. Some contests appear to have attracted more interest than others, such as for Alameda County Superior Court Judge, Office 20. A total of 171,998 people voted for one of the three contenders, Tara M. Flanagan, Andrew R. Wiener and Catherine Haley. Such attention is somewhat disquieting; there is a school of thought that judges, who are supposed to be apolitical and impartial, should not be elected. Additionally, some offices allowed votes for multiple candidates, such as up to seven for the Democratic Party Alameda County Central Committee, 20th Assembly District, or up to four for Hayward City Council. Given this, voter turnout was low. There is no definitive reason for this - apathy, disillusionment with the political process or a lack of understanding about the importance of participation as voter. For most, Election Day is the only opportunity to change their elected representative and make a difference.