Nearly half of registered voters in Claremont cast their ballots for or against Measure SC last month.

A total of 10,383 votes were cast in the June 5 election, representing a 49.24 percent voter turnout, according to the final election results presented by the city. There are currently 21,086 registered voters in Claremont.

“It was higher than previous years,” City Clerk Shelley Desautels said. “It was a good turnout for us.”

The turnout was much higher when compared to previous elections over the past few years. Turnout for Measure PS, the first police station ballot measure, was 25.3 percent, and turnout for the last city council election in 2017 was just under 30 percent, Ms. Desautels said.

But the attempted water takeover has SC beat in terms of voter appeal. Around 52 percent of Claremonters voted when Measure W appeared on the ballot in 2014, Ms. Desautels said.

She speculated the measure sharing the same ballot with important state and federal primaries might have boosted turnout.

“More voters may come out to those types of elections,” Ms. Desautels said.

Claremont’s numbers are much higher than the voter turnout in Los Angeles County, which was at 28.9 percent as of July 6, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.

Broken down further, 5,603 Claremonters voted yes on Measure SC, representing 57.69 percent of ballots cast; 4,109 Claremonters voted no on the measure.

The lowest voter turnout in the city—23 percent—was in a district that included the Claremont Colleges. It contains a number houses owned by Claremont McKenna College occupied by faculty, and extends to the northeast corner of the Village between Yale Avenue and Dartmouth from First to Seventh Streets.

In that precinct, 307 voters cast their ballots out of 1,284 total registered voters. Of those who voted, 49.5 percent voted yes,  slightly more than the 43 percent approval in vote by mail.

The highest approval percentage was in the precinct with the highest voter turnout. Of the 64 percent of registered voters in the central Village precinct, 72 percent voted yes. That district makes up the commercial area of the Village, the northwest part of the Village and Pilgrim Place.

Out of 13 Claremont precincts, only two had more no votes than yes votes. But they were close.

In the southernmost precinct, bordered by American Avenue in the south and Vista Drive to the north, 265 people voted no on Measure SC, as opposed to 255 yes votes, according to the county.

Around 43 percent of the precinct’s 1,768 registered voters voted in favor of the measure. Voter turnout in that precinct was the second lowest in the city at 38 percent.

Votes against the measure outnumbered those in favor in the northernmost precinct as well—in the area encompassing Claraboya, Padua Hills and all of northeast Claremont above Alamosa Drive.

In that precinct, 324 of its 1768 registered voters voted yes, with 380 voting no. That precinct also skewed lower in voter turnout, at 43 percent.

Interestingly, 671 people in Claremont who voted in the June 5 election did not cast a vote for Measure SC.

Committee application process open

The city is holding open enrollment for those interested in joining the Police Station Citizens’ Advisory Committee.

City spokesperson Bevin Handel said that as of Wednesday, eight applications have been turned in, but at least 20 applications have been picked up so far.

“This was to open it up and say whoever wants to be a part of this, we don’t want to discourage it,” Ms. Handel said. “We want all opinions.”

City Manager Tara Schultz noted that an application had been sent to every member of the previous ad hoc committee that worked on crafting Measure SC. Ms. Handel said they received applications “as a courtesy.”

The city has hit the ground running in the wake of Measure SC’s failure, setting a future ballot date of March 2020 for the next police station ballot measure.

The deadline to apply for the committee is Monday, July 23. Once that deadline has passed, Ms. Handel said, the applications will be sent to Mayor Opanyi Nasiali for final selection, which could happen within the first week of August.

Applications can be found on the city website at ci.claremont.ca.us/living/police-station-citizens-advisory-committee or stop by city hall, 207 N. Harvard Ave.

—Matthew Bramlett

news@claremont-courier.com