Voter Turnout Drops in DB and Walnut

Voting trends in Diamond Bar and Walnut mirrored Southern California, with turnout down this presidential election compared to 2008.

In Diamond Bar, 48.46 percent of the city's registered voters headed to the polls Tuesday, down from 80.06 percent in 2008, according to the Los Angeles County Clerk's Office. This time around, 14,973 ballots were cast. Diamond Bar has 30,897 registered voters.

Turnout also was down in Walnut. Of the 17,586 registered voters, 7,919, or around 45 percent, cast their ballots.  In 2008, 78.42 percent of voters went to the polls.

Los Angeles County also saw a similiar drop. This election, 49.8 percent of registered voters cast their ballots, compared to 76.8 percent in 2008.

"This is one of those rare elections in which turnout in every state in the nation went down," Curtis Gans, director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate, told NBC News.

As in 2008, voters in both Diamond Bar and Walnut Tuesday continued to support Democratic President Barack Obama.  The president received 8,077 votes in Diamond Bar, compared to Republican challenger Mitt Romney, with 6,347.  In Walnut, 4,348 voted for Obama, while 3,212 went with Romney.

Democrat Jay Chen, who faced off against Republican Congressman Ed Royce for the newly redrawn 39th District seat, did not win his bid for office but did have the support of both Diamond Bar and Walnut.

In Diamond Bar, Chen received 7,256 votes, compared to Royce's 6,796.  Walnut voters narrowly supported Chen, giving the Hacienda-La Puente Unified school board member 3,987 votes.  Royce recieved 3,433 votes.

Incumbent state Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, won re-election in the newly redrawn 29th District. In Diamond Bar, the Senate Republican Leader received 7,491 votes, compared to 6,274 for Democratic challenger Greg Diamond.  Walnut also went with Huff, giving him 3,680 votes compared to 3,498 for Diamond.

Also re-elected was Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills, in the 55th District. Diamond Bar went with Hagman, who received 6,924 votes compared to 6,523 for Democratic challenger Gregg Fritchle.  In Walnut, Fritchle, who once ran for City Council there, fared sligly better than Hagman.  Fritchle received 3,546 votes, compared to 3,504 for Hagman.

Both Diamond Bar and Walnut voted against Proposition 30, Gov. Brown's tax measure slated to raise money for school districts, however it passed in statewide voting.

In Diamond Bar, 7,613 voted no, while 6,669 voted yes.  In Walnut, 3,768 voted against the measure, compared to 3,607 who favored it.