According to latimes.com, many California citizens skipped out on voting for senators this election year. The race was between California Attorney General Kamala Harris and Representative of Orange County Loretta Sanchez. Californians cast 1.1 million fewer votes in the Senate race than they did for president, according to results Wednesday morning with 99.4% of precincts reporting statewide in both elections. In comparison, in 2012 the margin between the presidential election and the U.S. Senate race between longtime Democratic incumbent Diane Feinstein and GOP challenger Elizabeth Emken was fewer than 500,000 voters. The Harris-Sanchez race was a major test of the state's relatively new open primary system where the top-two finishers, regardless of political party, advance to the runoff. This year was the first time since 1914 that there wasn't a Republican in the runoff.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-election-aftermath-updates-trail-many-californians-skipped-voting-in-the-1478709262-htmlstory.html