These candidates will face off in November for San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors

Aaron Leathley, The Record
·2 min read
Election worker Kymra King accepts a ballot from a motorist at the drive-up ballot drop-off location outside of the San Joaquin County Administration Building on San Joaquin Street and Weber Avenue in downtown Stockton on June 7, 2022.
Election worker Kymra King accepts a ballot from a motorist at the drive-up ballot drop-off location outside of the San Joaquin County Administration Building on San Joaquin Street and Weber Avenue in downtown Stockton on June 7, 2022.

After widespread printing errors on vote-by-mail ballots delayed counting by nearly a month, the results of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisor primary races are in.

In District 2, Stockton City Councilmember Paul Canepa and Elbert Holman Jr., a former city councilmember and investigator, will proceed to a runoff in the November general election.

Canepa received 40.6% of the vote and Holman received 27.45%, the Registrar of Voters reported Tuesday night.

Stockton city Councilmembers Dan Wright, left, Paul Canepa and Kimberly Warmsley were speakers at a ceremony for the raising of the Progressive Pride Flag in front of Stockton City Hall on June 1. Canepa came in first in the District 2 Board of Supervisors race and will proceed to the November election.
Stockton city Councilmembers Dan Wright, left, Paul Canepa and Kimberly Warmsley were speakers at a ceremony for the raising of the Progressive Pride Flag in front of Stockton City Hall on June 1. Canepa came in first in the District 2 Board of Supervisors race and will proceed to the November election.

In District 4, Steve Ding — a restaurateur and onetime chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo of Tracy — will face Steve Colangelo, former CEO of the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds, in November.

Ding clinched 21.39% of the vote and Colangelo took 20.28%, the registrar reported.

At a glance: Stockton-area election results

More on candidates: San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors hopefuls

Steve Ding, owner, right, and bartender Santi Maciel at the Woodbridge Crossing restaurant in Woodbridge. Ding came in first in the primary election for the District 4 supervisor seat and will proceed to the November general election.
Steve Ding, owner, right, and bartender Santi Maciel at the Woodbridge Crossing restaurant in Woodbridge. Ding came in first in the primary election for the District 4 supervisor seat and will proceed to the November general election.

The District 4 race appears to be the most impacted by the counting delay.

On June 8, the day after the primaries, about 180 votes separated Ding, Colangelo, and two other candidates vying for the top spots that would carry them to the November runoff.

The delay occurred because some vote-by-mail ballots sent out in the county were printed with bar codes that appeared slightly blurred.

The error caused the county's scanning machines to reject about a third of vote-by-mail ballots in the days following the election.

Dig deeper: San Joaquin County Registrar's Office knew of ballot issue May 27, didn't tell public until Election Day

Related: With roughly a fifth of ballots counted, San Joaquin County looking to hire immediate help

To ensure every ballot was counted — including those with flawed bar codes — the Registrar of Voters followed a duplication and counting process laid out in California's election code, according to Assistant Registrar of Voters Olivia Hale.

It's similar to the process typically used to address common errors seen on ballots, like being filled in too lightly, according to Hale.

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers business, housing, and land use. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow. 

This article originally appeared on The Record: 2022 election: Ballot set for San Joaquin County supervisors race