Six candidates in the upcoming Rancho Mirage City Council election have spent an immeasurable amount of time and energy wooing eligible voters hoping to earn their vote.

Only the top three vote-getters will be awarded a seat on the dais.

So, exactly who are these voters that will decide the trio of winners?

As of Wednesday, there are 9,939 registered voters in Rancho Mirage, according to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. That number will not change as voter registration for this election has closed.

As of close of business Wednesday, 9,934 vote-by-mail ballots had been issued. Only 3,536 have been returned.

More than half of the voters – 5,450 – are age 66 and older. Does that bode well for the incumbents, all of whom are in their 70s and 80s? Time will tell.

Following is an age breakdown of all registered voters eligible to participate in the mail-only election:

  • 18-25 years, 355 eligible voters
  • 26-35 years, 402 eligible voters
  • 36-45 years, 509 eligible voters
  • 46-55 years, 1,148 eligible voters
  • 56-65 years, 2,075 eligible voters
  • 65 and over, 5,450 eligible voters

Ballots started to be mailed out to all registered Rancho Mirage voters on March 12, 2018, and will continue to be mailed out through Saturday, March 31, 2018.

Any registered voter who does not receive his or her ballot in the mail should call the Riverside County Registrar of Voters Office at (800) 773-8683 to request that a new ballot be mailed.  A voter may also obtain a ballot by visiting the Registrar’s Office at 2724 Gateway Drive, Riverside, CA  92507.

If you are concerned your ballot might get lost in the mail, there is a ballot box located in the reception area at City Hall, to which only the Elections Official and Registrar of Voters Office staff have a key. Voters may hand the signed ballot to the staff member at the reception desk and watch while it is placed in the ballot box.  Voters may also walk to the ballot box themselves and drop their signed ballot into the box. The Riverside County Registrar of Voters Office also has a ballot box, and voters are welcome to take their ballots there as well.

The Registrar of Voters Office may begin processing ballots on March 27, 2018, and will release a preliminary count shortly after polls close on April 10, 2018 (polls close at 8 p.m). The official canvas of election returns will commence on April 12, 2018, and a certified statement of election results will be provided to the City no later than May 4, 2018.

In the April 2016 Rancho Mirage city election, there were 9,109 votes cast, according to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. In addition to electing members to the City Council, there were also four measures on the ballot. This time around, there is only the question of who will fill three seats on the City Council.

Candidates are the three incumbents: G. Dana Hobart, Charles Townsend Vinci and Iris Smotrich. They are being challenged by Katherine “Kate” Spates, Robert “Bob” Mueller and Michael Harrington.