June 3 Primary

An event last week to help state Sen. Jeff Denham (R-Merced) retire debt from an unsuccessful recall campaign raised more than $65,000, according to a spokesman for Denham's anti-recall campaign.

Kevin Spillane said an August 14 fundraiser in Sacramento raised at least that much, with checks from the event still coming in.

June's primary election in California was bad for civic participation but good for giving the post office more to do, according to a report from the Secretary of State's office.

Voter turnout in the June 3 election was 28.2 percent of all registered voters, a record low that beat the 33.6 percent who voted in June 2006.

But vote-by-mail numbers set a record of their own. Of all the voters in the June 3 primary, a record 58.7 did so with mail-in ballots.