Do's Election Gives OC a Majority Asian-American Board of Supervisors

Andrew Do today defeated former state Sen. Lou Correa by 43 votes in the special election to fill the vacant First District seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, according to unofficial results. Do’s election along with Supervisors Lisa Bartlett and Michelle Steel means that, for the first time, Orange County will have a majority Asian-American Board of Supervisors

With all of the votes apparently counted, Do edged Correa by a margin of 39.1 percent to 39 percent. 

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The second-place finisher can then request a recount. The trailing candidate must pay for the recount, but the money would be refunded if the original result is changed.

Do entered Thursday’s resumption of counting provisional ballots with a 239-vote lead, which narrowed to 85 votes. When the day’s count ended, he had 18,698 votes to 18,613 for Correa.

Garden Grove City Councilman Chris Phan ended a distant third with 7,857 votes, or 16.3 percent, followed by television news anchor Chuyen Van Nguyen with 1,879, or 3.9 percent, and Lupe Morfin-Moreno, a specialist with the Orange County Health Care Agency, with 834 votes, or 1.7 percent.

Do had a two-vote lead after all 101 precincts were counted Tuesday.

In 2007, the last time there was a special election for the First District, election night ended with a seven-vote difference, with Janet Nguyen ultimately prevailing. She was elected to the state Senate, triggering Tuesday’s special election.

Do was Nguyen’s chief of staff. And it was Correa’s election to the state Senate in 2007 that triggered that special election.

The First District includes Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Westminster, the unincorporated Midway City area and portions of Fountain Valley.

• City News Service