Professor Jodi Balma presented to a packed audience at the Democrats of North Orange County (DNOC) meeting on September 5th. The political science professor from Fullerton College covered North Orange County’s city council races, community college boards, school boards, and statewide and local measures. Her focus, as 1 of the 3 political science professors who teach local politics in OC (the other 2 are at Chapman University), is to explain the low ballot elections and measures that often escape media attention due to the lack of local media. 

The event was well attended by Democrat electeds and candidates, with Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva leading the pledge of allegiance and showing her support for Kitty Jaramillo, Jan Flory, and Vanesa Estrella, among other new candidates running for local elections. Other electeds in attendance were Dr. Shana Charles, Joann Fawley, Donald Torres, Vicki Calhoun, and Ruthi Hanchett. 

Balma explained that Orange County has seen a spike in new voter registration for Republicans, with the party gaining 15,000 new voters. Democrats, on the other hand, have lost almost 7,000 voters. 

She then explained the NOCCCD race, in which parts of Fullerton will vote for District 7, picking between Ryan Bent (incumbent) and Kyle Miller. She then reviewed all of NOC’s city council and school district elections. FJUHSD has 2 uncontested races, so no elections. FSD has 2 races: Area 2 will choose between Hilda Sugarman (incumbent) and James Cho, and Area 5 will choose between Leonel Talavera (incumbent) and Vanesa Estrella.

Image Caption: Campaign finance, endorsements, and interviews are available through the Observer’s website and in early September-October issues. The highlighted candidates’ websites are linked in the original presentation. If a candidate is not linked, that means they do not have a campaign website. 

Fullerton has two school bonds on the ballot this election cycle:

Caption: For more information on these bonds, see an article from education reporter Vivien Moreno (Click Here to Read Article).

FSD Trustee Ruthi Hanchett came out in support of Measure N, the money from which will repair our schools, including but not limited to broken sewers and fuse boxes. For context, Fullerton has not passed a bond in over 20 years and many of our school buildings are in desperate need of repairs. 

Balma next explained the CA Propositions, recommending Ballotpedia and Calmatters as good sources for summaries and figuring out endorsements. She has written an article in our last issue detailing these propositions. 

Following the presentation was a brief candidate “forum,” more appropriately titled the candidate “introduction,” in which candidates for NOC’s city councils and school boards addressed the audience 1-by-1 and asked for donations and help for their respective campaigns. 

The crowd had a sense of cheerfulness and excitement for all the change this election cycle could bring. Come November, we’ll find out if these hopes turn into wins or devastating losses.