Gabrielle Russon
Both candidates think they won in a nail-biter Orange County Commission race that’s heading to a recount this week.
Incumbent Nicole Wilson now leads by five votes for District 1. Challenger Austin Arthur, a political newcomer who has GOP support and developer and hospitality industry backing, raised $275,000 to oust Wilson.
Arthur’s initial 24-vote lead diminished Tuesday night as the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office counted mail-in ballots turned in last-minute. People could deliver their ballots up until 7 p.m. EDT at the office.
Wilson said Wednesday she believes she is the winner.
So does Arthur.
“We’re closely monitoring the ongoing process and remain confident in our initial lead,” Arthur said in a statement Wednesday. “I look forward to the process vindicating our win.”
For District 1, the vote margin is razor-thin in a race where 28,099 votes were cast. Orange County is Democratic-leaning, but District 1 is split between Republicans and Democrats.
The winner will not be determined for days.
Voters whose ballots weren’t counted due to signature mismatches have until 5 p.m. on Thursday to submit cure affidavits.
“Any voter whose mail-in ballot gets rejected, we notify,” Orange County Elections Supervisor Christopher Heath said Wednesday morning. “I would guarantee both Nicole and Austin’s campaigns are working feverishly to call all those voters who had ballots rejected and encourage them to go fix that.”
The Canvassing Board then meets at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.
A machine recount is expected to take place Friday. From there, a manual account is expected since the results separating the candidates are less than a quarter of a percentage point. With both campaigns present, Orange County elections staff will decipher ballots where voters made mistakes, like circling a candidate’s name instead of filling in the circle, or picking both candidates.
“We have a lot of over and under votes in this race,” Heath said. “We also have the potential for a number of these cure affidavits to come back with voters who voted for one of these candidates and just messed up their name.”
Heath stressed that the rules for a recount are mandated by state law.
District 1 is the only race where Orange County isn’t ready to finalize the results to the state.
The clock is ticking to meet the state’s deadline, Heath said. He predicted the outcome could be determined Saturday night.
If it’s a tie? “The state statute says the winner shall be chosen by the drawing of lots,” Heath said.
What does that mean?
“The statute does not explain what drawing of lots means,” Heath said. “That means it would be up to the Supervisor to determine what the drawing of lots is.”
That could be anything from pulling a name out of a hat or seeing who has the longest matchstick.
