The official results of San Benito County’s Nov. 2 election are
finally in, showing no significant changes and confirming victory
for the initial standings’ winners, head elections official John
Hodges said Monday.
After weeks of processing and counting ballots, even the results
of closer races showed clear victors.
Hollister – The official results of San Benito County’s Nov. 2 election are finally in, showing no significant changes and confirming victory for the initial standings’ winners, head elections official John Hodges said Monday.
After weeks of processing and counting ballots, even the results of closer races showed clear victors.
“I’m glad in the end none of the races were too tight; that means less headaches,” Hodges said.
The race for San Juan Bautista City Council had been particularly close in the weeks between the election and the final count. While George Dias was the voters’ runaway choice with 35.4 percent of the vote, the race for the second available seat was much closer. With Dan Reed only 12 votes ahead of Ken Schipper on election night, the roughly 3,000 ballots left to be processed after Nov. 2 were counted by hand, Hodges said.
Still, final results show Reed won the second seat with 223 votes, 15 more than Schipper’s 208.
The ballots for the Sunnyslope Water District directors were also counted by hand after a misprint on the district’s absentee ballots told voters to choose three candidates for two positions, Hodges said. Voters who received the misprinted ballot were asked to come to the county courthouse to recast their votes in person.
“We’re being extra careful with those ones,” Hodges said during the weeks of ballot processing leading up to the final results.
The winners of the Sunnyslope Water District race were also the same as initial results indicated, showing winners Judi Johnson and Stephen Hailstone with 32.9 percent and 31 percent of the vote, respectively. Hodges said this was not a significant change from the initial results, which showed Johnson with 34.5 percent and Hailstone with 28.1 percent.
Final results typically aren’t ready until about three weeks after an election, according to Hodges. This time allows for processing and counting of provisional and absentee ballots, which Hodges and his staff have been doing since Nov. 2, he said.
But in the end, the vote percentages for most of the races remained almost static, and no candidates came from behind to win. Hodges said this was also normal.
“The way it lays out after the election is usually the way it lays out in the final results,” he said.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
