COURT-ORDERED COUNT OF 12,563 BALLOTS COMPLETED, BUT OUTCOME NOT YET CLEAR

Note: An earlier version of this story stated that two media outlets reported Salas the victor today. However one of those, the Riverside Press Enterprise, has since issued a correction and indicated that Vargas won.  The Riverside Registrar's office is closed until Monday, when a certified count will be sent to the Secretary of State.

July 10, 2010 (San Diego) – This morning, Riverside County’s Registrar of Voters completed counting 12,563 previously uncounted mail-in ballots,including the 40th State Senate Democratic primary race which includes portions of Riverside, Imperial and San Diego Counties. The count was ordered to begin yesterday by superior Court Judge Mac R. Fisher.

Before the 12,563 ballots were counted, Vargas’ lead had edged up to 22 votes following the addition yesterday of five previously uncounted ballots in dispute for other reasons. Early this morning, Registrar officials in Riverside completed counting the 12,563 mail-in ballots.  But who won remains unclear.

Channel 10 News in San Diego reports that the new ballots counted give Salas 83 votes more than Vargas across all three counties.  The Riverside Press Enterprise this morning reported that the all-night count of mail-in ballots put Salas into a slim, but this afternoon issued a correction stating tht Vargas actually appears the victor with 24,282 ballots total compared to 24,259 for Salas--a 23 vote edge.
 

The results are unofficial; official certified results will be sent to the Secretary of State Monday by Riverside’s Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore.
 

The ballots were not counted initially, even though voters mailed them in a timely manner, because Dunmore’s office failed to pick up the ballots from a Morena Valley post office. Postal officials had offered to deliver the ballots to the Registrar but were told not to do so, as the Registrar intended to have them picked up.
 

Three voters and the Riverside Democratic Central Committee filed suit against the Dunmore as a result. Their attorney, James Harrison, argued that Proposition 43, an initiative that mandated every vote be counted if voters complied with state law), justified counting the ballots in dispute, as well as the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
 

Now that all the ballots are counted from the June 8th primary, the losing candidate may request a recount.  Whoever is ultimately declared the winner in the Democratic primary holds the edge in the fall general election, since the 40th State Senate District has a heavy Democratic majority voter registration. The district includes the South Bay area as well as some southern portions of East County.