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Wendi Hrehovcsik’s polling place was inside of a doggy daycare near Vista.
Hrehovcsik, who is retired, didn’t hesitate to see what that meant for Tuesday’s election.
“This election has really gone to the dogs,” she said.
Across the San Diego portion of the 49th Congressional District, which spans much of North County and spills up into Orange County, everyone seemed worried about California’s “jungle primary,” where the two candidates with the most votes advance to the November election, regardless of party.
Some were happy to replace outgoing Rep. Darrell Issa with a Democrat but worried all the Democrats in the race would kill one another’s chances, resulting in a Republican-on-Republican general election.
Justin Eddy, a guitar teacher with three jobs, also resorted to canine commentary, even though he voted at the Dove Library in Carlsbad.
“I’d vote for a dead dog over Darrell Issa,” Eddy said.
He voted for Democrat Mike Levin.
Eddy was upset that Issa had resisted facing voters before he announced his retirement.
“I grew up in this district, I mean, I should be able to have some interaction with my congressman,” he said.
Other voters were sorry to see Issa go, but were also worried about California’s primary system.
“I think there should be one from each party so we can choose,” said Mary Stanley, a land developer.
Stanley, who is part of the Carlsbad Action Network, a group of conservative women, said after getting the chance to hear a lot of the candidates speak in person, she went with Republican Diane Harkey.
Patricia Quirk also picked Harkey, after Issa endorsed her.
“I liked Issa, so I like who he likes,” Quirk, who breeds horses, said.
Jonny Fishinger, a graduate student who is studying the Civil War, said his No. 1 goal was to make sure there was a Democrat on the November ballot. So, he wanted to pick someone who would make it through.
“It was kind of up in the air,” he said.
But a Sierra Club endorsement helped seal his vote for Levin.
Cory Hughes, a web developer, was dropping off votes for both he and his wife. They decided to split: she supported Sara Jacobs, he backed Levin, based on polling.
“I was looking for the latest polls,” he said, “I saw him taking the lead over the others.”
Matthew Cheung and Christopher Ong, both 18 and students at Pacific Ridge School, were voting for the first time.
They said it was hard to find information about some of the local races and, of course, were dubious of the information candidates were putting out about themselves.
“Further down the ballot, I had more difficulty getting objective analysis about the candidates,” Ong said.