A total of 81 vote by mail ballots, 13 provisionally voted ballots and a handful waiting for voter signatures on the ballot envelope remain to still be counted in the Oakdale Irrigation District recall election.
That, from Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters/County Clerk-Recorder Lee Lundrigan, who released an update from her office on Monday, May 1.
The recall election seeking to turn OID Division 4 Director Linda Santos out of office was held on Tuesday, April 25, with the local polls open that day in addition to many voters sending in their ballots.
On Election Day, Lundrigan reported her office had counted 499 ballots for the OID Recall Election. The unofficial Election Day results may be viewed at the stanvote.com website and includes ballots voted at the polls and vote by mail ballots received and processed as of last week.
Unofficial results in the recall election showed that with just under 500 votes counted, the ‘No’ votes for recall were 276 to 218 ‘Yes’ votes. The early, unofficial returns show Santos holding on to the post but officials reiterated that there are additional ballots to review before the count is finalized and the results can be certified.
Elections officials also said there were 229 votes cast for candidate Nate Ludlow to replace Santos in Division 4 should she be recalled, while 22 write in votes were also cast.
No final declaration has been made regarding whether Santos will keep the seat; all the ballots must be tallied and verified first.
Election Code 3019 requires the Registrar of Voters office to allow eight days after an election for voters who have not signed their vote by mail envelopes to come into the office to sign them or submit an Unsigned Ballot Envelope Statement. Lundrigan said her office has contacted each of the voters that fall under that circumstance to advise them they have until Wednesday, May 3 to sign their envelopes. A handful unsigned ballot envelopes remain.
The canvass will continue until complete. California law requires certification for this election or before May 25, 2017.
