Politics & Government
Final Tally Shows Election Day Voters Favored de la Vega
The complete official count shows that the majority of in-person voters opted for de la Vega on election day, while support for Boulanger dropped from the level seen in pre-Election Day ballots.
An analysis of the final Hercules City Council election votes shows that the 11th-hour news about candidate Gerard Boulanger's may have affected not only his own support but also that of .
While Wilkins won the seat when voters recalled incumbent , the only other challenger, , received one more vote on Election Day, 714-713. Thanks to a significant edge in the absentee balloting before Election Day, Wilkins, who campaigned jointly with , won 52-47 percent.
De la Vega says he cannot be sure if the controversy over Boulanger's candidate statements swayed voter support. His own "aggresive campaigning" may have been the cause of de la Vega's Election Day boost.
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"I didn't have a formal campaign organization," said de la Vega. "I made a last-minute push during Election Day and did fairly well, considering."
Details about Boulanger's embellishments concerning his political experience and education surfaced the Sunday before the election. After many Hercules Patch readers criticized the candidate, Wilkins wrote:
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If Gerard Boulanger is elected, it will be his decision to serve or resign. As I stated earlier, Vote yes on the recall. We in the recall have made honestly and truthfulness the point of our movement. Based on those points I think it would be difficult for Gerard to serve. The community needs to have confidence in every council member, and Hercules deserves the best. Every voter needs to make their own decision in this election.
As reported last week, Boulanger's own support dropped sharply after he . But he still received support from a majority of the voters who cast ballots Election Day.
Here's what the numbers show for Boulanger, who was the only choice on the ballot to replace recalled incumbent :
- He received 95.6 percent of the absentee votes submitted early to the Contra Costa County Elections Office with write-in candidates getting 4.4 percent.
- Of the ballot cast Elections Day, he received 85.0 percent, while write-ins got 15.0 percent.
- Many Election Day voters did not cast a vote for anyone in the Kuehne recall contest. While 1,589 voters cast ballots that day on the question of whether to recall Kuehne, only 1,089 voted for either Boulanger or a write-in. Boulanger's Election Day support represented 58 percent of the overall Kuehne recall vote.
Final numbers from the county show that Herculeans cast 3,808 ballots, a 31.6 percent turnout of the city's registered voters.
Follow this link for , which the county reported Friday.
And here's the comparison of the votes before Election Day with those submitted at the polls. Note that the ballots cast Election Day include regular polling place ballots, provisional ballots and absentee ballots turned in at a polling place:
Vacant City Council Seat Absentee Ballots Submitted Early Ballots Cast on Election Day Tally Percent Tally Percent MARK ANTHONY JONES 489 23.5% 439 28.0% SHERRY MCCOY 616 29.5% 378 24.1% DAN ROMERO 961 46.1% 743 47.4% WRITE-IN 19 0.9% 7 0.4% TOTALS 2,085 1,567 Joanne Ward Recall Question Absentee Ballots Submitted Early Ballots Cast on Election Day Tally Percent Tally Percent YES 1,879 86.7% 1,414 88.3% NO 288 13.3% 188 11.7% TOTALS 2,167 1,602 Ward Recall Office Absentee Ballots Submitted Early Ballots Cast on Election Day Tally Percent Tally Percent WILLIAM W. WILKINS 1,061 53.9% 713 49.3% VIRGILIO DELAVEGA 881 44.8% 714 49.4% WRITE-IN 26 1.3% 19 1.3% TOTALS 1,968 1,446 Don Kuehne Recall Question Absentee Ballots Submitted Early Ballots Cast on Election Day Tally Percent Tally Percent YES 1,753 81.4% 1,251 78.7% NO 401 18.6% 338 21.3% TOTALS 2,154 1,589 Kuehne Recall Office Absentee Ballots Submitted Early Ballots Cast on Election Day Tally Percent Tally Percent GERARD BOULANGER 1,677 95.6% 926 85.0% WRITE-IN 77 4.4% 163 15.0% TOTALS 1,754 1,089Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
