Special election for California Assembly District 32

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- People in Tulare and Kern Counties will be heading to the polls Tuesday to vote in the District 32 special primary election.

The seat became vacant when Vince Fong was elected to represent the House of Representatives after the resignation of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

However, that process played out too close to election day to pull Fong's name from the ballot for the State Assembly.

There are over 87,000 people in Tulare County eligible to vote in this election.

The Tulare County Office of the Registrar expects to see about a 15% voter turnout for this special election.

As of election morning, the Tulare County Office of the Registrar had processed over 12,000 ballots and by Tuesday afternoon more than 100 people had shown up to vote in person.

"We anticipate at least receiving 3,000 to 4,000 ballots mailed in today. As far as poll sites go, I don't know we will receive 1,000 voters tonight," explained Tulare County Registrar of Voters Michelle Baldwin.

Assembly District 32 spans parts of Tulare and Kern Counties.

Candidates on the ballot include Democrat educator and school board member Chris Cruz-Boone, Republican Farmer and businessman Stan Ellis, Republican, Holli Willibey, a school board member and clinical social worker, and William Brown Jr., a registered Libertarian.

The registrar and local voters urging people to vote

"Even if you don't know the candidate there's information out on the secretaries website, if they did a candidate statement you can go out there and read the statement. Find out information and cast your vote," suggested Baldwin.

Tulare County voter Amanda Ingrim says, "I think it's important for every citizen to vote, it's our duty and it's also our honor to do so."

For a candidate to win this election, they need to receive more than 50% of the vote. If that doesn't happen there will be a run-off on April 29th between the two top candidates, regardless of party.

"I think our votes actually do count and if you don't vote then you have no place to complain if things don't go the way that you would hope," mentions Amanda.

Polls close at 8 pm on Tuesday.

So, there is still time to get out to one of the polling places in Exeter, Porterville, Springville, Three Rivers, and Visalia.

Once voting ends, the registrar will have nine days to certify the election.

However, they expect to have that done by early next week.

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