Andrew Do defeated former state Sen. Lou Correa by 43 votes in the special election to fill the vacant First District seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, according to official results released late Friday.
Do, who had been the chief of staff for Supervisor Janet Nguyen, had an 85-vote lead entering Friday’s count of about 4,700 vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at various precincts on Tuesday and about 760 provisional ballots and 150 paper ballots cast, according to Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley.
Kelley certified the results Friday night, which allows Correa to request a recount. Correa must pay for the recount, but the money is refunded if the original result is changed.
Do received 18,905 votes, 39.1 percent, to 18,862 for Correa, 39 percent.
Garden Grove City Councilman Chris Phan finished third with 7,857 votes, 16.3 percent, followed by television news anchor Chuyen Van Nguyen with 1,879, 3.9 percent, and Lupe Morfin-Moreno, a specialist with the Orange County Health Care Agency, with 834 votes, or 1.7 percent.
The turnout was 22.6 percent.
Do had a two-vote lead after all 101 precincts were counted Tuesday. His lead grew to 239 votes after Wednesday’s count.
In 2007, the last time there was a special election for the First District, election night ended with a seven-vote difference, with Nguyen ultimately prevailing. She was elected to the state Senate in November, triggering Tuesday’s special election.
Correa’s election to the state Senate in 2007 prompted the earlier special election.
The First District includes Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Westminster, the unincorporated Midway City area and portions of Fountain Valley.
— City News Service