Tied Fresno County irrigation district board race goes into double overtime

With a single ballot outstanding, a recount of votes cast in a heated race for a Laguna Irrigation District board seat was abruptly stopped Tuesday afternoon, initially leaving the race in a tie of 101 to 101.

By law, voters in the district had 24 hours to request the recount be restarted. And that’s exactly what happened.

Now the recount is back on, confirmed Fresno County Registrar of Voters James Kus. The office needs to provide at least 24 hours notice of the restarted recount, which is conducted in public view. Kus wasn’t sure if it would happen Thursday or Friday but “We’ll get it done this week,” he said.

Well driller Wes Harmon, who ran against Laguna board president Frank Zonneveld, had sought the initial recount. 

As the recount was in progress Tuesday afternoon, elections staff found one ballot that may have been counted twice, according to Mike Nordstrom, general counsel for Laguna, who was on hand to observe the process. 

After both sides were alerted about the ballot, Harmon’s representatives called a halt to the recount, Nordstrom and Kus confirmed.

That started the 24-hour clock ticking for another voter in the district to restart the recount.

Zonneveld’s son was that voter after hearing that Harmon’s folks had stopped the recount, Frank Zonneveld wrote in a text message.

Harmon did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Harmon and his supporters had said they felt Laguna board members favored larger growers and weren’t operating with enough transparency. Zonneveld told SJV Water the real issue is some growers are dissatisfied with how the district has divvied up recharged groundwater supplies.

Water board seats are typically sleepy affairs that attract little attention. But this was the first tied election in Fresno County in 25 years. 

If it remains tied, California election law states the district must break the tie “by lot,” Kus said. That’s what happened in the northern Central Valley city of Galt earlier this week where a tied City Council race was decided by drawing straws.