Whittier early ballot returns up 44% from the eve of the 2022 midterm

WHITTIER, Calif. — Whittier voters had returned 12,507 ballots by the day before Election Day, up from 8,684 at the same point in the 2022 midterm, according to Political Data Inc.’s ballot tracker. The citywide return rate rose from 15.74% to 21.34%.

Registered Democrats posted the largest increase by party registration in the citywide figures. Their return rate rose from 16.77% to 25.44%, while the Republican rate rose from 19.63% to 21.59%. The rate for voters registered with no party preference or another party rose from 10.21% to 14.04%. Registered Democrats accounted for about 56% of ballots returned and 47% of ballots mailed.

Voters 65 and older accounted for 45% of early returns. About 42% of ballots mailed to that age group had been returned, compared with about 11% among voters ages 18 to 34.

PDI’s council district tables show a different pattern for Republican voters. They report lower return rates than in 2022 in all four districts, including a 10.6 percentage point drop in District 4, even as the citywide table shows an increase. The district tables provide rates without the underlying ballot counts needed to reconcile the two views.

The tracker records ballot returns by voter registration. It does not show how voters marked their ballots on Whittier’s charter measures EL and EV, and the city figures cover only one part of the 41st Congressional District. Those contests will come into focus once election officials begin releasing vote totals after polls close at 8 p.m. Pacific.