Voters Trickle In to Cast Ballots for Hahn or Huey

Voters in Hermosa Beach other South Bay cities turned out Tuesday morning to cast ballots in the runoff election to fill the 36th Congressional District seat. 

Despite the buzz surrounding the race between Democratic candidate Janice Hahn and Republican tea party candidate Craig Huey, most polling places were fairly quiet.

The Penmar Recreation Center, on the district's border of Venice and Mar Vista, fielded “hordes and hordes of people,” poll worker Colleen Russell joked. “We’ve had to beat them off.”

By 9:30 a.m., the polling station had seen only about 25 votes cast, she said.

Most people came in to drop off vote-by-mail ballots, Russell said. That included Venice resident Linda Crooks, who brought her dog, Lily, to the polling station.

Crooks said she was strongly in favor of Hahn, adding that the Democratic councilwoman's policies closely aligned with her own beliefs. 

“Social issues matter a lot to me, and supporting people less fortunate,” Crooks said. “It seems like that doesn’t matter to the tea party.”

The Venice United Methodist Church polling station on Victoria Avenue was slightly busier, with four precincts voting there. About 30 people from just one precinct had come in to vote by 10 a.m., said poll worker Charlene Tobias. The church had seen a steady stream of people all morning.

About one third of the ballots were vote by mail, Tobias said.

At the James McBride Special Education Center on Centinela Boulevard, Mar Vista resident Jeff Moses said he votes in every election.

His father was a Republican and Moses was raised in a conservative family, but he said he is alarmed by the development of the tea party. 

“The movement doesn’t represent [the Republican] sensibility anymore,” said Moses, who switched parties years ago.

He said he thought Jane Harman, who represented the 36th District until she resigned in February, did "a very good job," and was voting to replace her. Hahn was endorsed by Harman as her replacement.

At the Marina City Club polling place in nearby Marina del Rey, one Huey supporter stood up for his economic beliefs.

“I’m looking for a candidate more in line with my views in Washington on curbing spending,” said Eric H., who asked that his last name be withheld after being verbally attacked outside the polling place in the middle of the interview.

A Hahn supporter had overheard Eric explaining why he was voting for Huey and started shouting, calling both the tea party candidate and his supporter "racist."

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday's vote, the race has been largely characterized by negative campaigning, as Hahn and Huey worked to galvanize supporters.

“There is a great deal of difference between the candidates,” said Venice resident and Hahn supporter Cordetta Anderson. “In a really tense political climate… people have to do what they think is right.”