Calexico recall election results to be finalized next week

CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The recall final results are set to be finalized next week and still the question is, what comes next?

The elections office said they will be presenting the final recall voting results to the Imperial County Board of Supervisors on May 7. 

The final results are almost in.

The elections office said about 5,000 ballots were cast for this election. 

“So far we have reported 4,892 ballots. So the remainder ballots that need to be counted and tabulated and reported are the provisional ballots which equal to about 550,” said Lindsey Dale, Imperial County Elections Office.

The elections office said some ballots were invalid. “We have approximately 150 ballots that either had a mismatched signature from what we have on our database or the voter did not sign their ballot," explained Dale.

The results will then be presented to the Imperial County Board of Supervisors on May 7.

The Mayor of Calexico then has to approve or deny the votes.

"I am obligated to accept the elections however they will be presented.. I have until May 10th for this to be accepted," said Mayor Gloria Romo, City of Calexico.

Of all the votes counted so far, a majority of voters were in favor of recalling Councilmember Raul Ureña and Mayor Pro-tem Gilberto Manzanarez.

We were able to speak to Councilmember Raul Ureña on what's next for him. 

“There will be a November election where five city council seats are open for election, the whole council. We do plan to run as a progressive coalition in November 2024. As of now, we are still considering. Maybe it's a yes or maybe it's a no, but we are leaning towards a yes run in November 2024 and we hope the best for Calexico. We hope that the recall people don’t get too comfortable in their seats because their victory did come about because of low voting turnout," said Councilmember Raul Ureña.

The mayor of Calexico said once the final results are presented to the city, Manzanarez and Ureña will immediately leave their city council seats.

The city council will then get to decide who fills those two seats on a temporary basis while they wait for the results of the November election.