More than 9,000 ballots cast in San Benito County election

The latest results of the March 5 presidential primary election show that a total of 8,749 people voted in San Benito County. The vast majority of those—7,749 voters—cast their votes by mail, while 1,000 people voted in-person at county vote centers. 

In local races, incumbents Dom Zanger and Kollin Kosmicki held their seats for District 1 and District 2, respectively, on the San Benito County Board of Supervisors, according to the latest results posted on the registrar of voters website on March 9. Ignacio Velazquez appears to have won the District 5 seat, with 57% of the vote. Distinct 5 incumbent Bea Gonzales received about 45% of the vote.

Zanger garnered about 57% of the vote against challengers Dustin Weber and Stacie McGrady. Kosmicki received about 67% in the District 2 race, while John Freeman garnered about 33 percent. 

In the local vote for U.S. Congress District 18, incumbent Zoe Lofgren received about 44%, while former San Benito County Supervisor Peter Hernandez garnered about 43.6%. Throughout the district, Lofgren received about 52% and Hernandez about 33%, according to the California Secretary of State’s website. Lofgren and Hernandez will face off for a runoff in the November general election. 

As of March 7, there were about 4,099 “unprocessed ballots” to count in San Benito County, according to the registrar’s website. These include 3,724 vote-by-mail ballots, 19 provisional and 356 damaged, unreadable or challenged ballots. 

“Over 90% of San Benito County voters Vote-by-Mail. Many of the Vote-by-Mail ballots are dropped into drop boxes on Election Day,” says the registrar’s website. “We do not have those ballots on site until well into the night on Election Day.  Every returned Vote-by-Mail ballot must be entered into the Election System, and have the voter’s signature verified.  At any point, ballots may be challenged.

“If challenged, the San Benito County Department of Elections makes every effort to reach out to the voter to correct the issue.  Issues are often missing or non-matching signatures. 

“Once processed and accepted, the ballot must be removed from its envelope and then reviewed for electronic readability, laid flat and readied for scanning.

“This complete process can take several days and in some Elections even weeks.”