By Paige Austin (Patch Staff)
February 5, 2015 at 7:31am

County Supervisor candidate Lou Correa says he has reason to believe questionable votes could have affected the outcome of the election.



Former state Sen. Lou Correa said today he sought a recount in the special election for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisor because he was told of “irregularities and questionable votes.”

Correa told City News Service that the recount, which begins Monday, is not initially aimed at getting enough votes to overcome Supervisor Andrew Do’s 43-vote lead.

“The recount isn’t about changing the outcome of the results,” Correa said.

Rather, it’s about identifying any problem votes, which could lead to overturning the results, Correa said.

“We’ve heard from a number of constituents of reports of irregularities and questionable votes,” Correa said. “We want to make sure every precaution is taken. We want to make sure it’s transparent to the public.”

Correa declined to go into specifics about any issues with voting.

“There are a lot of interesting rumors going around,” Correa said.

If there’s enough evidence of fraud then Correa could take his case to the courts to overturn the results.

Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley told City News Service “we need to let the recount move forward and allow a fair examination of the ballots.”

Correa said he was not fazed by Do’s swearing-in Tuesday, followed by his first meeting as a supervisor.

“I expected the county to move forward” to certify the election, Correa said.

“The county made it clear they wanted to get someone installed as soon as possible,” Correa said.

When all the precincts were counted for the Jan. 27 special election, Do had a two-vote lead. The margin expanded by 237 in last Wednesday’s count of vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at polling places on Election Day. The count of provisional ballots carved deeply into Do’s lead until Correa fell 43 short.
City News Service