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Unable to close the gap even in a tight race, and eventually losing by just 33 votes, San Benito County District 5 Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez has become the first local official in history to be recalled from office.
The county Elections Office certified the June 2 Primary Election results on June 26, making the recall official and instantly removing Velazquez from office after he lost by a narrow margin of 1,312 to 1,279.
Velazquez told BenitoLink he is not going to request a recount of the ballots, though he also complained about the process.
“I’m disappointed that the Elections Department wouldn’t let me review the information as I requested before they finished everything,” he said.
Velazquez repeated unsubstantiated claims that the recall was spearheaded by special interest groups that did not want him to stop developers.
Organizer Stacie McGrady continued to maintain the recall was about public safety.
“We couldn’t be more satisfied with the results,” she said.
The two options to fill the District 5 vacancy, which covers north county including parts of downtown Hollister, is for the San Benito County Board of Supervisors to call for either a special election or consolidate it with the November 3 general election, or allow the governor to appoint a replacement.
Chief Deputy Clerk-Recorder Ana De Castro Maquiz said the estimated cost to the county to call for a consolidated election is up to $60,000 and a special election would cost up to $150,000.
McGrady said about four “really strong candidates” have expressed their interest in running for the office to fill the vacant seat for the remainder of Velazquez’s term, which runs through 2028. However, she said she could not identify the potential candidates because she said they might not be interested in making it public yet.
“We would support any candidate who is going to be a true leader and support public safety officers and help San Benito County work holistically with the City of Hollister for the good of the entire community,” she said.
Though Velazquez took an early 28-vote lead on Election night, the recall proponents flipped the tally by the next election update. The recall proponents maintained a fluctuating lead throughout the process.
De Castro Maquiz said there were 27 ballots from District 5 that were not counted because they either had a signature that did not match what was on file or it was missing completely. Elections contacted voters with challenged ballots at least twice via mail, email or phone call, De Castro Maquiz previously told BenitoLink.
According to the results, there were 137 voters who did not cast a vote in this race but did vote in other races.
In total, De Castro Maquiz said there were 166 ballots county-wide that were challenged because of the signatures and were not fixed by voters.
In addition to those, there were 134 ballots that were not counted because they were considered late, meaning they were either submitted after the 5 p.m. deadline on June 2 or postmarked with a date after the election day.
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