Election results certified by the San Benito County Registrar of Voters’ office on June 26 confirm that Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez has been recalled from office.
On the District 5 recall measure on the June 2 ballot, 1,312 people voted “yes” to recall Velazquez. A total of 1,279 voted “no,” according to the final election update posted Friday by the local registrar’s office.
With the majority of voters in favor of recalling Velazquez, Gov. Gavin Newsom will be tasked in the coming weeks with appointing a replacement for the rest of his term.
Traveling outside the country this week, Velazquez said he will not request a recount from the elections office, but he will continue his work to slow the growth in San Benito County. Throughout the campaign season, Velazquez routinely accused recall proponents of misleading voters and working for the development community.
“This was a recall that was organized and paid for by special interests that don’t like my views on slowing down out of control housing growth,” Velazquez texted this newspaper on Jun 30. “They want to go back to being able to control the board decisions.
“I was also frustrated that the elections department delayed my request to review ballots until after they finalized everything. I am not going to ask for a recount, but I will keep standing up to these groups that want to turn San Benito County into South San Jose.”
The District 5 result is believed to be the first time a local official has been recalled from office.
The recall was initiated by a group of voters who comprise what they call the Safer San Benito Committee.
“We just received the final votes from the elections office and the Safer San Benito County has made history by successfully recalling Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez,” Safer San Benito representatives posted on social media June 26.
County Registrar of Voters Francisco Diaz’s office certified the June 2 election results on June 26. The office also released a “statement of vote,” which contains details of a countywide canvass of voters conducted by elections officials. That canvass included a manual tally of 1% of votes, selected at random.
“We take great care to safeguard the integrity of your vote throughout every stage of this process, and we truly appreciate the trust you place in our office,” Diaz wrote in a June 26 letter addressed to San Benito County residents.
Local elections officials said nobody has contacted the registrar’s office to request a recount of the June 26 results. Candidates and ballot measure proponents have until five days after certification—or July 1 in this case—to request a recount.
