Contact: Mark Church, Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder
Alternate: David Tom, Elections Manager
Redwood City, CA – Today, Mark Church, San Mateo County Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder, officially certified the election results for the May 3, 2011 Consolidated Local Special Election.
“Voter turnout was 26.05 percent or 88,903 which is predictably higher than the previous special board vacancy election due in large part to the fact that this was the first countywide all-mail election,” Church noted. “Delivering the official ballot directly into the hands of voters increases awareness of the election and makes the process of voting very convenient.”
In the last hotly contested election in 1997 for a seat on the Board of Supervisors where the vacancy was filled by a special election, the turnout was 15.61%.
The vote totals from the certified election results reveal that 99.81 percent of the turnout or 88,738 votes were cast by those who voted by mail and .19 percent or 165 votes came from voters who went to the accessible Voting Centers to vote,” he added.
The Chief Elections Officer officially certifies the election results once the Canvass is completed within the 28 days following an election. During this special election, the Official Canvass was comprised of Vote by Mail ballots and the electronic, paper and provisional ballots cast at the Voting Centers. A publicly conducted one percent manual tally of the votes, an important part of an audit required by law, confirmed the accuracy of the election.
The official election results, published in a document known as the Statement of the Vote, are posted on www.shapethefuture.org, the San Mateo County Elections web site. These official election results provide a complete picture of the election with vote totals that are broken down by precinct and the type of ballot cast (early vote at a voting center or Vote by Mail ballot). The Precinct Report is also available online and lists the ballots cast and turnout on a precinct-by-precinct basis. The public may review or download and print a complete copy of the election results available on the San Mateo County Elections Office website, www.shapethefuture.org.
For more information, please contact the Elections Office at 650.312.5222.
The press release is displayed in its original format. San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections website now resides at www.smcacre.org