SANTA ANA — Former State Sen. Lou Correa has ended the recount in the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ 1st District special election contest, the county Registrar of Voters announced Feb. 13.
The recount began Feb. 9 at the request of Correa, who lost to Andrew Do by 43 votes in the Jan. 27 election. Do, former chief of staff to Supervisor Janet Nguyen, and Correa were the top two vote-getters in the five-way race to replace Nguyen, who was elected to the State Senate.
Do was sworn in despite the challenge from Correa, who alleged irregularities in the voting process.
“During the recount, nearly 6,250 vote-by-mail ballots were recounted and election materials were reviewed,” the Registrar of Voters said. “There were no changes to the vote totals … the original certification of the ballots cast remains as the official certification.”
The final count was 18,905 votes (39.1 percent) for Do, 18,862 (39.0 percent) for Correa.
Correa, who paid for the recount, has not backed away from his allegations but said that a court challenge would be too expensive and would take too long.