BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — After it was discovered that 108 ballots were mistakenly assigned during a local school board election, county and election officials addressed publicly Tuesday what the next steps are.
- During the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning, supervisors, County counsel, and Kern County Registrar of Voters Aimee Espinoza discussed options surrounding the ballot discrepancy found within the Greenfield Union School District Trustee Area C election.
- This mistake may have cost the incumbent, Ricardo Herrera, to lose by just eight votes to challenger Mercy Pena.
After it was discovered that 108 ballots were mistakenly assigned during a local school board election, county and election officials addressed publicly Tuesday what the next steps are.
"If we made a mistake, how do we ensure that we're not making someone else pay to fix it,” said Kern County District 4 Supervisor David Couch.
During the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning, supervisors, County counsel, and Kern County Registrar of Voters Aimee Espinoza discussed options surrounding the ballot discrepancy found within the Greenfield Union School District Trustee Area C election. This mistake may have cost the incumbent, Ricardo Herrera, to lose by just eight votes to challenger Mercy Pena.
Herrera said he discovered during ballot curing that some ballots that were cast belonged to voters not within the trustee area. He said he brought this to the attention of the Kern County Election's Office on November 25. Espinoza said when they were made aware, they began investigating and learned that the total number of mistaken ballots was 108.
After the meeting, we asked Espinoza for more clarity on what happened.
Morley: "Has your office discovered why that was the case?"
Espinoza: “It was a case of human error."
Morley: "Was it a case of using an old redistricting map? There've been some questions regarding that."
Espinoza: "I don't have that information yet, we're still looking at what exactly happened with that."
Espinoza said they worked with county counsel to understand how to proceed, but by the time they learned the extent of the ballot issue and reached out to the Secretary of State's office, it was December 3rd — two days before they needed to certify the results.
"We heard back with a resounding we do not have legal standing short of a court order to not certify the results,” Espinoza said.
Legal counsel for the Greenfield Union School District, Abigale Auffant, said even with the emergency and expedited measures they took, they were unable to get a hearing on the matter before the election's certification deadline, which resulted in their prior filing becoming moot.
"We moved heaven and earth to be able to have a writ and a hearing on that writ held last week,” she told supervisors.
Now the next steps fall between the district's counsel and County counsel.
Since the results have been certified, County Counsel Margo Raison said one route could be contesting post-certification, resulting in a special election.
"If the party who brings the request for the special elections, if the court determines that a mistake was made, they can recover their costs and fees,” Raison said.
"That would be, well, that would be not only the school district that has to pay to put an election on the ballot. Right?" Chairman Couch asked.
"Correct,” Raison answered.
Chairman Couch also brought up whether or not a special election would mean new candidates had a chance to file.
"I think that's something we may have to look into. I don't know if that's something that a court could order,” Espinoza answered.
While supervisors moved to approve staff recommendation declaring the results certified, Couch asked County counsel to return next Tuesday with an update on where the county and courts stand.
Herrera said he's disappointed supervisors approved the motion, even if there was no legal standing for them not to.
As for the elections office, Espinoza said they’re looking into the cost of a potential special election.
“We’re going to start researching the soonest we can get a special election on the ballot, if that is the case, and then I'll have to work with the county administrative office on the budgetary aspect of that,” she said. “The cost of the election, what we're looking at right now is about $28,000 but that's not all new money. The cost of the election would be with our vendors, printing costs, but all of the staff time is already built into our current year budget, with our existing staff.”
Auffant said the district would like to be able to come to an agreement with County counsel without having to incur greater legal costs, however they are prepared to submit an amended petition to the court if needed.
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