Los Angeles County is one of those places that regularly holds elections in odd numbered election years. Most of these are school board and water board elections, but an inceasing number of cities have consolidated in recent years.
Adding a special election to the November ballot brings three to four times as many voters to the polls than would normally participate. This drives up costs and brings interesting results.
Interestingly enough several Asian-American incumbents lost their elections this November. Did race play a factor? Did high Latino voter turn out have an impact on these low-profile races? See the story here.
The sad fact is race does play a factor in many of these races, whether Asian, Black, Latino etc…
One former Monrovia School Board Member who is white (and of course a liberal) sent an email to friends asking them to cast only one vote (Bullet Voting) for Clarence Shaw, the only candidate of "non-European" background. Clarence Shaw was the tope vote getter.
Can you imagine the outrage if the email had said vote against Clarence Shaw because he is the only candidate of non-European" background?
There should be more outrage over appeals to race in campaigns.
By the way Steve Knight was the top vote getter for Palmdale City Council. You can see my original story on that here.