REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
December 17, 2024
FROM
JOANI FINWALL, Registrar of Voters
SUBJECT
Title
Certified Election Results for the November 5, 2024, General Election
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
1. Accept the Certified Election Results for the 2024 General Election held on November 5, 2024, that are on file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and the Registrar of Voters.
2. Adopt Resolution declaring the results for the contests under the jurisdiction of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors that appeared on the ballot in the 2024 General Election, and declaring the San Bernardino County Assessor / Recorder candidate who received the highest number of votes as elected to a 2-year term, declaring Measure K was not approved as 56.56 percent of the voters who voted on the measure voted No, and declaring Measure L was approved as 61.35 percent of the voters who voted on the measure voted Yes.
(Presenter: Joani Finwall, Registrar of Voters, 387-2100)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of additional Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). Appropriation for the staffing required to present the Certified Election Results was included in the Registrar of Voters (ROV) 2024-25 budget.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
ROV conducted the 2024 General Election, held on November 5, 2024 (Election Day), in compliance with the California Elections and Government Codes, and the County Code. Ballots were cast by 771,834 eligible voters in the election, which equated to a 64.40 percent turnout of all registered voters in the election.
In addition to casting ballots for their preferred candidates for President and Vice President, voters in this election also expressed their choices for candidates for United States Senator, United States House of Representatives, California Senate and Assembly, school district offices, County Assessor / Recorder, city offices, and special district offices. The election also included 10 State propositions and 24 local ballot measures, which included two County measures.
ROV completed the canvass on December 3, 2024 - 28 days following Election Day. Some of the canvass activities included:
• Processing approximately 25,878 ballots after Election Day, including: damaged ballots; all provisional ballots; all ballots cast by voters who conditionally registered to vote after the October 21, 2024, registration deadline; and 247,733 mail ballots, including those without a signature on the envelope or having a signature that did not initially appear to match the signature on file with the voter’s registration documents, those received on November 5, and all mail ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days.
• Notifying more than 10,294 voters that they either did not sign their return envelope, or that their signature did not match the one on file with their voter registration documents and providing them an opportunity to correct the issue by December 1, 2024.
• Counting all the above-mentioned ballots cast by voters determined to be eligible.
• Completing required audits of the tallying of ballots, including a hand count of a random sample of at least one percent of the precincts and mail ballots counted by high-speed ballot scanners.
Upon completion of the canvass and as authorized by County Code section 12.2006, ROV certified the election results. In accordance with Elections Code sections 15372 and 15375, ROV also provided the Certified Election Results to the Secretary of State, distributed it to the governing bodies of every local jurisdiction that participated in the election, and posted it on ROV’s website. The presentation to the Board of Supervisors of the Certified Election Results is informational.
The Certified Election Results are comprised of a Certified Statement of Election Results; a Summary Results Report which lists the total number of votes cast for each candidate and measure, included as an attachment; and a Statement of Vote Report, which lists the total number of votes cast in each precinct for each candidate and measure. These reports are available and on file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and the office of ROV.
Recommendation No. 2 requests the adoption of a Resolution declaring the results for the office of County Assessor / Recorder, County Measure K and County Measure L. California Elections Code section 15400 provides that the Board of Supervisors (Board), as a governing body, shall declare elected those candidates receiving the highest number of votes for each office under its jurisdiction. The statute also requires the Board to declare the results of each measure election under its jurisdiction.
For the office of Assessor / Recorder, the Resolution declares candidate Josie Gonzales elected to a 2-year term, as she received 42.12 percent of the vote.
For Measure K, which proposed to amend the County’s Transient Occupancy Tax, the Resolution declares the measure was not approved as 56.56 percent of the voters who voted on the measure voted No. For Measure L, which proposed to amend the County Charter, the Resolution declares the measure approved, as 61.35 percent voted Yes.
PROCUREMENT
Not applicable.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Jolena Grider, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on October 31, 2024; Finance (Elias Duenas, Administrative Analyst, 387-4052) on November 12, 2024; and County Finance and Administration (Valerie Clay, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on November 20, 2024.