FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (contact us) – All ballots have been counted in Fresno County, but now the elections board is dealing with a tie for the first time in over 25 years.
The Laguna Irrigation District, Division 2 race is at a standstill as both candidates are tied.
Wes Harmon and Frank Zonneveld both have 101 votes.
“That’s kind of an amazing thing to see,” said James Kus, Fresno County Registrar of Voters.
Division 2 encompasses Fresno County and a small portion of Kings County.
Harmon, a local well driller, went head-to-head against incumbent Zonneveld, who also serves as the Laguna Irrigation Board’s President.
This past Tuesday, the Fresno County Elections Board completed the tabulation of all ballots.
The following day, Harmon requested a recount.
“The person who has requested the recount gets their choice to ask for a manual recount or an electronic recount, and in this case, the requester did ask for an electronic recount,” Kus said.
This process will take place on Dec. 10 at the Fresno Elections warehouse.
Kus is confident the results will remain unchanged.
“It’s not going to take very long for us to do this, but we do have to follow a very rigid process, and going through the steps is open to the public,” Kus said.
If the result is still a tie after the recount, it is then up to the irrigation district to decide how to break that tie.