San Joaquin County Registrar certifies election results

Jul. 4—STOCKTON — The San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters office officially certified the June 7 California primary election results last Friday, a week ahead of the July 7 deadline.

Assistant ROV Olivia Hale said in a media statement that 110,252 ballots were cast, for a 28.6% turnout of the 385,040 registered voters in the county. Of those ballots, 6,731 were cast at polling places.

Turnout in June was down from the 80.04% who voted in the Nov. 3 general election in 2020, which Hale noted was conducted during a pandemic and a high-profile presidential race.

"However, the 2020 primary turnout was similar to previous statewide direct primaries," Hale said. "In fact, the voter turnout in the 2018 primary was 32.3% compared to 28.6% in 2022. In either instance, we have a lot of work to do in the future to get residents excited about voting and engaged like they were in 2020."

With the results finalized, Ron Freitas becomes the county's new district attorney, holding on for the duration of the count with more than 50% of the vote.

Freitas, a deputy district attorney and Lodi Unified School District Board of Education member, defeated incumbent Tori Verber Salazar by collecting 54.52% of the vote and 53,912 ballots.

Salazar, who served two terms as district attorney, garnered 44,975 tallies for 45.48% of the vote.

Lodi City Councilman Doug Kuehne and Lodi Unified teacher Nancy St. Clair lost their bids for the District 4 seat on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.

Kuehne received 4,594 votes for 17.51% of the turnout, while St. Clair had 4,512 votes for 17.20%.

The pair were beaten out by Woodbridge Crossing owner Steve Ding and small business owner Steve Colangelo.

Ding garnered 5,613 votes for 21.40% of the turnout, while Linden resident Colangelo received 5,316 votes for 20.27%

The two will move on to the Nov. 7 general election in a run-off for the seat.

Paul Brennan, a former San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office deputy and corrections officer, received 3,222 votes for 12.128% of the turnout, while former sheriff Steve Moore garnered 2,972 votes for 11.33%.

Rep. Josh Harder and District 3 supervisor Tom Patti will go head-to-head in November for the U.S. Congress' District 9 seat.

Harder received 37,899 tallies for 37.1% of the vote in the county, while Patti collected 29,078 votes for 28.47%.

Lodi resident Jim Shoemaker was a distant third with 14,842 votes and 14.53%.

According to the Secretary of State's results, Harder has 38,862 votes and 36.7%, while Patti has 30,734 votes and 29%. The discrepancy is due to portions of Contra Costa and Stanislaus counties included in the District 9 boundary.

"As most people know, this was an extremely difficult election with the tragic passing of San Joaquin County's ROV, Heather Ditty, in addition to a ballot machine error which resulted in 30% of our ballots needing to be duplicated, reassessed and validated," Hale said.

"True to San Joaquin County's character, our office received an outpouring of support from county staff and the community who stepped in to help ensure every vote was counted accurately and on-time. At the end of this election, I can confidently say to every resident that San Joaquin County has once again conducted a transparent and thorough election despite the challenges placed before us."

The ROV will present the certified results to the board of supervisors on July 7. The Secretary of State will then certify all results by July 15.