SANTA ANA, CA—Senator Lou Correa today announced that he has requested a recount of ballots for the January 27th special election for Orange County Board of Supervisors, District 1 seat. Sen. Correa issued the following statement:
“Earlier today, I sent a letter to Orange County Registrar Neal Kelley formally requesting a recount of the January 27, 2015, First District Supervisorial special election. As you know, the final vote tabulation by the Registrar on Friday night declared Andrew Do the winner by 43 votes out of more than 48,600 ballots cast – a margin of less than 1/10th of 1%.
“I do not necessarily expect that this recount will change the outcome of the election. If ballots were cast illegally in the election and were erroneously counted in the original canvass of the votes, a recount cannot “undo” those votes and remove them from the vote count. Conversely, a recount generally cannot result in adding any votes to the tally that were erroneously rejected in the original vote count.
“Rather, the primary purpose of the recount is to allow for my campaign -‐-‐ and for the public generally – to obtain the assurance it deserves that the election was conducted fairly and legally: that every person who was entitled to cast a vote in the election was able to do so, and that only those persons who were entitled to cast a vote in the election did so.
“My campaign has received a number of reports over the past week or so contending that people who did not really live in the First Supervisorial District registered to vote and cast ballots in this election. We have also received reports regarding irregularities in the handling and processing of vote-‐by-‐mail ballots, with campaigns collecting (and even paying for) voted ballots and returning them to the Registrar’s office or at the polls. I do not personally know whether any of these reports are true or not. But I owe it to my supporters and to the integrity of the electoral process to do whatever I can to make sure that the results of this – and other, future elections in Orange County – are not tainted or affected by illegal conduct.
“A recount will allow my campaign and all other interested parties to review all of the ballots and other election records relating to the January 27th special election to ensure that the election laws were properly complied with. Last week, my campaign and Mr. Do’s campaign were given the opportunity to observe and monitor the “Registrar’s office’s processing of provisional ballots and some of the vote-‐by-‐mail ballots received on or after Election Day. During the course of that review, we observed several questionable occurrences: provisional ballots being counted even though they were not signed by the voter; ballots cast by voters who appeared to have attempted to vote more than once; and voters who claimed to have moved into the First Supervisorial District just prior to the election without actually re-‐ registering at their supposed new address. This recount will allow us to investigate and determine the scope of these and any other irregularities, to analyze whether they might have affected the outcome of the election, and to decide whether further action is warranted, either in the form of a judicial action or the District Attorney’s investigation.
“I have great respect for Registrar Kelley and for his staff at the Orange County Registrar of Voters’ office. I know that they have made transparency one of their guiding principles and that they will cooperate fully in making all relevant information available for examination during the course of the recount. I hope that Mr. Do’s campaign will likewise cooperate and join me in using the recount as an opportunity to assure ourselves and all of the residents of Orange County that the recent First Supervisorial election was held and conducted fairly, in full compliance with the election laws.”
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