Jaime De La Cruz outscored Bob Cruz by 35 votes from the final
201 absentee ballots counted Monday and overtook the two-term
incumbent by 10 votes to unofficially win the race for District 5
county supervisor.
Jaime De La Cruz outscored Bob Cruz by 35 votes from the final 201 absentee ballots counted Monday and overtook the two-term incumbent by 10 votes to unofficially win the race for District 5 county supervisor.
After the March 2 election, Cruz had a 25-vote lead on De La Cruz – a 781-756 margin. And many interested parties, including De La Cruz, had believed that was a comfortable enough cushion for a Cruz victory.
After elections officials finished running the remaining absentee ballots through an electronic count machine Monday afternoon, they handed out results. One of the first people to get a copy was De La Cruz, who bolted in jubilation out the exit of the Elections Office.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe what happened,” said De La Cruz from outside the courthouse, moments after the results came through. “I just wanted to see how much he was going to beat me by.”
He added he was ready to give a concession speech, and that he was expecting to pick up a maximum of 10 or 15 votes.
But he beat Cruz 118-83 from the last of the absentees – gaining 59 percent of those votes.
Cruz had been walking toward the Elections Office entrance – to attain the results – when De La Cruz burst out the door. Cruz initially declined to comment as he made a call on his cell phone.
Later, he did not return phone calls made to his cell phone.
A small group of people awaiting the results were surprised as well. Head elections official John Hodges was among them.
Such a turnaround, after an election night, had not previously occurred during his 21-year tenure as county clerk, Hodges said.
One of the closest supervisor races, he pointed out, was a Cruz victory by 19 votes over Marci Huston eight years ago.
Supervisor Reb Monaco had accompanied Cruz to the Elections Office on Monday. He said Cruz was “in shock” over the turn of events.
“It’s hard to sit for a week,” Monaco said. “That’s tough.”
Absentee ballots made the difference in this race. Those counted Monday, coupled with absentees tabulated election night, carried De La Cruz to victory.
Election night, De La Cruz had been ahead by a few percentage points after the first round of results – mostly absentees – were released.
As part of his campaign strategy, De La Cruz targeted residents who were planning to avoid the polls.
He personally handed in about 100 applications for absentee ballots – a practice that is legal, Hodges said.
“Whew,” Hodges said, sighing after the results came through, “he sure knows how to work an election.”
Next, the often controversial race culminates with a “canvassing” process, which includes elections officials hand-counting one precinct from District 5, according to elections officials.
The chance for another turnaround, however, is slim to none, Hodges said.
Vote counts usually don’t change through the canvassing process. Although sometimes, he said, officials find one or two misplaced ballots.
There is a possibility Cruz could request a recount of all the District 5 ballots. But the inquiring candidate has to finance such an effort, Hodges said. And it is unclear whether Cruz will consider that.
For De La Cruz, who said he couldn’t sleep since election night, the apparent victory Monday was vindication for the most quarrelsome race of the election season.
He pointed out that Cruz had commented last week how he would try to get De La Cruz removed from the San Benito County Water District board, another elected position.
The race also included the infamous request by Cruz to have a No. 1 placed before his name. He did so, he said, to distinguish their similar names. De La Cruz argued his opponent intended to confuse voters.
Come January, a Board led by veterans will transform into one on which the senior member seems to be Loe – who is serving her first term.
“Whatever the voters want, that’s what it’s all about,” Loe said.
Monaco, elected in November 2002, said he’s concerned about continuity.
“It’s sure going to change the makeup of the Board,” he said.
Supervisor Ruth Kesler, who was defeated in the District 2 primary last week, declined comment. And Supervisor Richard Scagliotti, who didn’t run for re-election, could not be reached.
One of those three new members to the Board, it seems, will be Don Marcus. After election night, Marcus had secured 51 percent of the vote in the District 1 race also involving Marci Huston and Grant Brians.
For a candidate to win outright in a primary, he or she must attain more than 50 percent of the vote. After Monday’s final votes, he had dropped to 50.1 percent – eight more votes than he needed to secure an unofficial victory.
