Votes don't matter? Tell these Monterey County candidates separated by 21 of them

Monterey County’s June Primary results will be updated a final time later today, and no race has more riding on the figures than District 2 supervisor – where two potential second-place finishers are separated by merely 21 votes.

The leading candidate in the six-way race, Glenn Church, did not receive close to the 50% of the vote he would need to win outright, so the race appears certain to go to a November runoff. As of the latest tally released June 17, nonprofit executive Regina Gage had 2,167 votes while Salinas Mayor Kimbley Craig had 2,146. That represents 19% for each of them, compared to 34% for Church.

Craig and Gage agree on at least one thing.

“It reiterates to everyone that your vote really does make a difference,” Gage said Thursday.

The Salinas mayor urged voters not to lose sight of their civic duty.

“To me, it’s fascinating when people feel like elections don’t matter and votes don’t count,” Craig said. “If anyone ever thinks that their vote doesn’t count, here’s a prime example of where your vote counts.”

Turnout for the race was low, despite candidates’ appeal to North County voters that they deserve a greater say in the county’s operation and funding decisions. Only 27% of the district’s 42,000 registered voters cast ballots, according to the Monterey County elections office.

Gina Martinez, the registrar of voters, said in an email to The Californian she is confident that the votes have been counted accurately. By law, her office manually counts a 1% sample to verify the machine count.

“We typically add additional batches to ensure that each contest is included or in cases where there might be a close contest,” she wrote, noting that anyone is welcome to observe the count. “In the canvass period, 19 additional batches were manually tallied against the voting system with zero variances between the manual tally and the voting system.”

With the race so close, even a small number of irregular ballots could make a difference. Martinez said 30 of the ballots from voters within District 2 were missing envelope signatures or the envelope and ballot signatures didn’t match. Those voters were contacted and had until Wednesday, two days before certification, to provide a signature, she said.

Martinez did not say how many of those ballots were ultimately resolved and counted.

Gage, a Prunedale resident who works as the executive director of Meals on Wheels and serves on the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System board, said she’s trying to stay relaxed about the close race. She just wishes more people had voted.

“It’s a bit unsettling but life goes on,” she said. “It’s summer, it’s a beautiful day. It will be what it will be.”

The winner of District 2 race in November will replace longtime Supervisor John Phillips, who announced his retirement in December. He endorsed Craig during his announcement.

For Craig, the final tally will decide her next steps. Either candidate – or anyone else – can ask for a recount within five days of certification, Martinez said. However, “the requestor will be responsible for the full cost of the recount.”

The registrar added that cost estimates would be provided to anyone requesting a recount.

Craig said she’s waiting to see whether the margin gets closer.

“I genuinely feel like the process was followed,” she said. “I genuinely feel there was not voter fraud or anything like that. But I do think it’s important to make sure every single voter’s ballot was counted correctly.”

This is a developing story. Watch The Californian’s coverage for updates on the final results of the Monterey County June 2022 primary election.

This article originally appeared on Salinas Californian: Monterey County primary election results to be certified