Monterey County voters headed to the polls for the Tuesday, June 2 primary election.
In a semi rural part of the county, voters said they were looking for change in the state and were focused primarily on the California governor race.
“We need to see some change in California,” Mary Clark said. “There are a lot of things that need to be taken care of, everything from homelessness to the price of gas. There really are too many things to list at this point.”
Bo Winslow knew exactly where he wanted to see change: the governor’s office. “That’s all I care about—having anybody else be governor other than a Democrat.”
When asked if he was interested in any of the other races—the polling place was in the heart of the Supervisor 2 race between Ramon Gomez and incumbent Glenn Church.
“Anybody but Jimmy Panetta. Anybody but a Democrat,” he said.
Asked if he thought Republicans would have a moment, Winslow was as equally sure.
“Nope,” he said. “We’re going to lose anyways, but I still have to put the effort in.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom brought one voter out. Jennifer Smith said she wanted someone completely different from the current officeholder.
“It’s not like I’m a Republican either— I just want change,” Smith said.
Smith also looked for small business experience and candidates who advocated for tax reform.
“Everything I looked for was a change from what we have,” Smith said.
Jacob Cortez said the environment was a major issue for him and showing up as a young voter.
“I feel like a lot of people my age aren’t voting as much and its important because we are the ones who are going to be deadline with the climate and everything else,” said Cortez, who was most excited about voting for governor (though he didn’t want to divulge who he voted for).
Sophia Smalley took a more expansive view of the election and said she is a regular voter who just tries “to make humanity better one election at a time.”
Along with the California governor’s and lieutenant governor’s races, voters in Monterey County are deciding multiple local races.
Those include two seats on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, only one of which is competitive—Chris Lopez is running unopposed in District 3, Monterey County Superintendent of Schools, and Monterey County Auditor-Controller. Also on the ballot are Assembly and congressional races.
Polling places opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, the last day to vote in person or return a ballot. Vote-by-mail ballots had to be postmarked no later than Election Day, according to the California Secretary of State.
As of June 1, the county elections office accepted 44,565 ballots. There are 218,662 registered voters in the county.
The county elections office, which typically has 12 permanent staff, expands to more than 100 employees during the early voting period. By the end of election night, staffing grows to 200 as teams process results alongside 600 poll workers stationed across the county.
“We expect to have tens of thousands of vote by mail ballots that are being dropped off today that we are going to be processing over the next few days,” said Gina Martinez, the Monterey County registrar of voters.
The first report of election returns will be shortly after 8 p.m. when polls close.
Visit our Elections page for the latest news, results and more as the California 2026 Primary results come in.
This article originally appeared on Salinas Californian: Voters say they want change in rural part of Monterey County
Reporting by Roseann Cattani, Salinas Californian / Salinas Californian
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
