This story has been updated from a previous version.
Tony Nuñez appeared poised to avoid a November runoff in the race for Santa Cruz County’s 4th District supervisor seat after the latest election results pushed him just above the threshold needed for an outright victory.
In the final batch of election results released Thursday, Nuñez received 3,939 votes, or 50.09% of the vote, narrowly exceeding the simple majority required to win the June primary outright. Incumbent Supervisor Felipe Hernandez received 30.81%.
If the results hold through certification on June 26, Nuñez would become the first candidate in recent Santa Cruz County history to defeat a sitting county supervisor outright in a primary election, according to his campaign.
Because the race sits just above the 50% threshold, Santa Cruz County elections officials will conduct an expanded manual tally of ballots before certifying the results.
County Clerk Tricia Webber said the action is part of the official canvass process and should not be confused with a recount.
“We are not doing a recount,” she said in an email. “We are escalating the manual tally beyond the required 1%. This is not unusual, and is often done when contests are close. We want to make sure when we certify that the results are 100% accurate.”
Webber said no candidate requested the expanded tally and that the decision was made by her office.
Under California law, counties may manually tally 1% of ballots cast as part of post-election auditing procedures. Elections officials have discretion to expand that review and manually count additional ballots when deemed necessary.
For the 4th District supervisor contest, the county will manually tally all ballots cast in the race and compare those results to the machine-tabulated totals.
The expanded tally is scheduled to begin Monday at 10am and continue during normal business hours until completed. Webber said she expects the process to take one to two days.
Candidates and their representatives have been invited to observe the tally. Observers will be allowed to sit near tally teams, view ballots as they are counted and review the final manual totals against the tabulated results.
Webber said the process is intended to provide confidence in the results before the county certifies the election next week.
In a statement Thursday, Nuñez thanked voters and supporters and said the outcome reflected South County residents’ desire for stronger representation.
“This campaign has achieved something truly extraordinary, and I am filled with gratitude,” Nuñez said. “But what matters most is what this result represents: a community coming together around a shared belief that Watsonville, the Pajaro Valley, and South County deserve leadership that shows up, works hard, and delivers.”
Nuñez also thanked Hernandez and fellow candidate Elias Gonzales for their campaigns and said he intends to represent all District 4 residents if elected.
The race drew strong voter participation. According to unofficial election results, 8,495 votes were cast in the supervisor contest, while more than 87,000 voters cast ballots countywide.
