Velazquez recall still a close call in latest primary election results

This article will be updated as results are updated. Last updated as of June 3 at 8:50 a.m. Lea este artículo en español aquí.

A recall effort aimed at District 5 Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez remained too close to predict following the release of vote tallies early on June 3, the day after the election, though the pro-recall side gained momentum with proponents leading by 28 votes out of nearly 1,100 votes counted.

Safer San Benito, the group pushing to oust Velazquez, had a viewing party at Bulldog Boxing lit only by some candles and a PG&E external light because of a power outage in the area.

Group member Stacie McGrady said the recall proponents expect a close race.

“It’s going to be tight, we know that, but we trust in our voters,” she said when the initial count had the recall down by 28 votes earlier in the night.

Velazquez did not respond to BenitoLink’s request for comment.

County elections also had its network system down starting around 5 p.m. because of the power outage.

Chief Deputy Clerk-Recorder Ana De Castro Maquiz said some new voters, including those that recently moved to the county or just turned 18 years old, had to cast a provisional ballot because the officials did not have access to the Secretary of the State’s network to validate their eligibility to vote.

De Castro Maquiz said voters making address changes also had to vote provisionally because of the network issue and noted the process to count ballots was not impacted.

Meanwhile, incumbent Supervisors Mindy Sotelo and Angela Curro held large leads over challengers, while incumbent County Auditor-Controller Joe Paul Gonzales continued to trail challenger Laura Garcilazo.

Original story below:

All but one local incumbent leads in the initial primary election results, including Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez who has a narrow 28-vote lead of 652 counted in his bid to turn back an effort to recall him.

Only incumbent Auditor-Controller Joe Paul Gonzalez is down early, by more than 400 votes out of more than 4,100 tallied.

For the June 2 primary election, San Benito County voters were faced with electing representatives in six local contests, including an attempted recall of Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez, and considering a revision of the local cannabis tax.

For the San Benito County Board of Supervisors District 3 and 4 races, along with three other local offices, the candidate that receives more than 50% of the votes wins outright, otherwise the top two vote-getters advance to the Nov. 6 general election.

For state and congressional races, the top two vote-getters will move on to the general election.

The following are the updated results.

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