A re-count effort in a Chula Vista City Council race between Steve Padilla and Councilman-elect John McCann has stopped, according to Cynthia Paes with the Registrar of Voters Office.
Southwestern College governing board member Humberto Peraza submitted a request Thursday morning — on behalf of the Democratic Party — to halt the re-count.
“After seven days of the re-count it was clear that the recount wasn’t going to change anything,” Peraza said.
The registrar said the rules are that the election reverts to the ROV’s certified results, which showed McCann defeating Padilla by two votes: 18, 448 to 18,446.
Paes said a California voter has 24 hours from the time a recount has stopped to submit a request to continue the re-count.
The Democratic Party had suspended the recount earlier this week to challenge about 269 uncounted ballots.
Of those uncounted ballots, only one was included in the count, said Michael Vu with the Registrar of Voters Office.
That one uncounted ballot showed a vote for McCann.
Sixty-six uncounted ballots were also reviewed last week, pushing the total to 335 uncounted ballots, which were all looked over.
Uncounted ballots can include those where a voter didn’t sign the sealed envelope which a ballot is in, a signature on the envelope didn’t match what was on the registrar’s record or a person voted who wasn’t registered to vote, Vu said.
“After a week of counting ballots, it has become clear that many valid ballots are not being counted and this recount is unlikely to change the result,” Padilla said in a statement.
Peraza said he congratulates McCann on the victory.
“The intent of the recount for us was to see who actually won,” he said.
“John (McCann) ended up winning and you shake his hand and you say congratulations.”
