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Recount affirms majority vote for Richard Cervantes |
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Saturday, 14 June 2008 |
 The “Board of Four” assembled by the Inyo County Elections Office reviews ballots cast in the race for Fifth District Supervisor during Tuesday’s recount of the June 3 election result. Photo by Mike Gervais By Ken Koerner
Register Staff 6-12-2008
It doesn’t get any closer than winning an election by just one vote, which is precisely the margin of victory Inyo County voters provided to incumbent Fifth District Supervisor Richard Cervantes.
A recount was conducted by Inyo election officials on Tuesday at the Inyo County Courthouse, due to the initially-tallied, single-vote outcome in the Fifth District supervisorial race.
Beginning at 9 a.m., a “Board of Four” assembled for the task set about examining every one of the 834 ballots that had been cast in that district’s election.
“It was so important that every voters’ clear intention was reflected in the final result,” Inyo County Clerk-Recorder, Registrar of Voters Mary Roper affirmed, “and the effort today was a verification of the voters’ wishes, so we accomplished our goal.”
Roper had determined it was appropriate to hold the recount prior to her certifying the Inyo County results with the Board of Supervisors and California Secretary of State Debra Bowen.
The vote totals for Supervisor Cervantes and challenger, former Supervisor Michael Dorame, remained exactly as before – however there was one vote, previously “rejected” by the optical scanner, that was deemed to be worthy of inclusion in the results from the June 3 election.
The only ballot that was determined to have been “mis-counted” was a vote for Bill Wenzel, who, along with Dorame, had been vying for Cervantes’ Fifth District spot. Hence, the one additional vote that was added to the initial poll result of 833 total votes being properly cast.
“The next-to-the-last precinct ballots that we looked at delivered the sole change in our vote totals,” said Roper. “Someone had mistakenly written in their vote for Bill Wenzel and connected that arrow, which caused the machine to discount the ballot as an ‘over-write’ – which it obviously wasn’t.”
The Board of Four that oversaw the recount employed the same method used in all Inyo County hand-tallies, Roper explained, with two people attending to individual tally sheets and two people examining each and every ballot. In both cases, both parties must agree before a vote can be officially accepted and recorded.
“I will now certify to the Inyo County Board of Supervisors the final vote totals as accurate,” Roper said. “I expect that will be an agenda item for the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, June 17.”
Following that step in the process being taken, Roper will then certify the entire results of Inyo voting with Bowen’s office.
As to the recount process itself, Roper expressed her satisfaction and appreciation.
“Everything went very smoothly. Our Board of Four handled things very professionally,” said Roper. “It was clearly obvious that each person realized the importance of what they were doing and they performed beautifully. I’m very thankful for their efforts.”
Several people did come by at points throughout the recount to observe the work being done. This, Roper indicated, also pleased her.
“We had a few people that stopped by to watch the recount in progress,” Roper said, “which I totally appreciated because the process must always be transparent.”
The potential challenger to Cervantes should a November runoff election have been necessary, Dorame, was supportive of the outcome in his remarks following the completion of the recount.
“I can only say it’s disappointing to have an election decided by this, the slimmest of margins,” Dorame said. “However, that is the fair and accurate outcome and I salute Mary Roper and those that ably assisted her in ensuring that the will of the voters was confirmed in the recount. I’m very grateful to all those that supported me during this campaign and I look forward to being an active citizen in following the challenges Inyo County faces in the future – and how our elected supervisors respond to those challenges on behalf of Inyo residents.”
Cervantes was unavailable for comment at press time.
The traditionally substantial voter turnout for Inyo County was not reflected in the total number of ballots cast in this election, Roper explained, which should provide motivation for all registered voters in the next election.
“This should certainly encourage a lot more people to turn out in November,” said Roper. “And if anyone has ever doubted whether their vote counts, an election being decided by a single vote should be all the evidence necessary to bring that point home.”
In addition to the presidential contest on the November ballot, plus the election for the U.S. 25th Congressional District in California and the state’s 34th Assembly District, Roper pointed out there will also be some important local races to be decided.
“Besides the runoff election for Inyo Superior Court Judge at the polls in November,” Roper said, “there will also be races for school board seats in each county district, seats on the hospital boards for both north and south districts, as well as voting for the Inyo Mono Conservation District. And there’ll be tons of propositions on that ballot, too; so I hope we will see a large number of Inyo voters making sure to get their ballots cast.”
As to the candidates that were awaiting the results of Tuesday’s recount, Roper again shared kind words.
“Really, you couldn’t have asked for a nicer, more respectful and courteous situation than we enjoyed with all three of the men running in the Fifth District. They were just great,” said Roper.
Roper reminds anyone interested in being a candidate for one of the local races to be decided in November that the filing period opens in mid-July.
“So, if anyone’s thinking of running in November,” Roper said, “be sure and get in touch with the Inyo County Elections Office in plenty of time to get your paperwork filed and recorded.”
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 July 2008 )
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