With all votes counted, race pushed to run-off by narrowest of margins

by Brian Leubitz

Sometimes you realize just how important turnout operations really are. For SD-16, a few additional votes for Andy Vidak would have meant that he would soon take the oath of office. Instead, we’re headed for another low-turnout special election runoff in July: (Vote totals here)

Republican Andy Vidak of Hanford and Democrat Leticia Perez of Bakersfield earned a spot in the runoff as the top vote-getters in the May 21 special election, which was held after Michael Rubio suddenly resigned midterm from his 16th Senate District seat to take a job with oil giant Chevron.

The Senate district up for grabs includes parts of four counties: Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern. Eyewitness News contacted each county elections department Tuesday, and each confirmed that all votes from the May 21 special election have been counted.(Bakersfield Now)

The margin was just about a hundred votes in a 60,000 vote election, that’s pretty close, folks. However, the July special election still presents the same challenges that Perez faced before. Turnout will be abysmal, and the Democratic base tends to fade more than the Republican base in special elections. However, that being said, the margin between Vidak and Perez was still relatively low. Perez will now be the only Democrat on the ballot, but must work even harder on turning out votes.

Not sure what this does to Dan Walters’ thesis though.