Ultimately, did the election of 2014 matter?
No.
Roughly five years ago, John McCann defeated Steve Padilla as both men were attempting a return to City Hall.
McCann was trying to make his way back to the municipal legislature after serving time as a Sweetwater Union High School board member. Prior to that McCann had served two terms as a Chula Vista city councilman.
At the same time, Padilla was staging an attempted comeback after being voted out of the mayor’s office in 2006 and living his post-political life as a consultant.
Because Chula Vista voters presumably have short memories and are forgiving, coupled with term-limit laws that are as solid as boiled rice paper, one of the two had a legitimate shot at again sitting on the council.
Ultimately it was John McCann who won the 2014 election by only two votes and momentarily gave more ammunition to the “every vote matters” crowd.
But Chula Vista voters, thanks to the registrar of voters and the courts, learned that every vote doesn’t matter.
Given the thin margin of McCann’s victory, Padilla and his supporters reasonably asked — and paid — for a recount. During the recount at least 15 votes were not considered valid because a business address had been used as a domicile rather than a traditional home.
There’s no knowing who those votes would have benefitted but the decision to include them certainly did call into question whether every vote really does matter.
McCann won in 2014 and when Chula Vista switched to district-only elections, Padilla eventually returned to the City Council in 2016, and so ultimately both men and local voters got what they wanted.
Yes, the election of 2014 did matter.
Although both men ended up back in office, their return did not come without a price.
Chula Vista resident Aurora Clark filed a lawsuit asking a judge to count the ballots that were discarded by the registrar. A judge decided against her and also cleared the way for Councilman John McCann to collect close to $100,000 from the single mother in attorney’s fees because he was named in the lawsuit.
Five years later the state legislature earlier this month passed AB 679, a bill that will count ballots from individuals that have nontraditional homes.
Had the close call of 2014 never occurred then we may not now have a bill in place that protects ballots that come from voters who don’t live in a traditional residence.
On the other hand, had the election between Padilla and McCann been won by either candidate by a wider margin then maybe Clark would not have taken her case to court and been stuck with a massive legal bill that, eventually, was settled for an undisclosed amount.
Did the election of 2014 matter? Yes and no.
From now on, and in theory, every vote counts. But next time there is a close call you can be sure that counting the votes will be costly for someone.
