Would you spend over $82,000 to count the ballots again in an election in which the winner won with 68% of the vote? Neither would Randy Economy apparently. Although, on July 4, he filed a request with Nevada County to recount its election for Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters, which Natalie Adona won.
Economy, who is a conservative radio host in the Coachella Valley – located nine hours away from Nevada County – and a leader in the Newsom recall effort, requested that all 38,000 ballots be recounted. He told the L.A. Times that “something doesn’t smell right” about the election. Could that be because the Republican candidate received only 23% of the vote? It was this race in which election mailers referred to Adona as “a carpetbagger”. Some elected officials called this racist slur against the Asian American woman who was running in a mostly white county. However, on Monday, Economy called off the recall – one day before it was scheduled to start.
As reported by the L.A. Times, county officials are not too happy with the last-minute recall of the recount as it has proven to be a waste of County time, resources, and about $10,000. Why did Economy halt the recount? According to the L.A. Times, in part, because he thought ballots had been “compromised” since elections staffers handled them, and the recount would involve their office.