Andrew Do retains O.C. supervisor seat as recount of votes ends

A recount for Orange County’s first district supervisor race ended Friday night, with no change after a review of nearly 6,250 vote-by-mail ballots, officials said.

Republican Andrew Do, an attorney, remains supervisor, defeating Democrat Lou Correa, a former state senator, in a razor-thin fight in which he emerged the winner by 43 votes.

The recount lasted four days and involved dozens of volunteers from Correa’s campaign, among them many Vietnamese Americans who flocked to his Little Saigon office.

But their passion and support for a veteran politician, who held this same supervisor’s seat before heading to Sacramento, could not overcome a big advantage for Do: constant air time and coverage from a hyperactive ethnic media bent on reporting most of his aggressive outreach.

By contrast, not a single Spanish-language television provided footage or mention of his candidacy, according to Correa.

Do collected 18,905 votes to Correa’s 18,862 in a battle that involved allegations of vote-buying and a recount during which Correa’s team tried to investigate reports of voters from outside the district casting ballots.

During the recount, staff and volunteers reviewed election materials, with “no changes to the vote totals,” according to Neal Kelley, registrar of voters.

Do’s victory gives the Orange Board of Supervisors its first-ever Asian American majority. Michelle Steel, a Korean immigrant, and Lisa Bartlett, a Japanese American, won election to the five-member panel in November.

Do, who served on the Garden Grove City Council, replaces his former boss, Janet Nguyen, who is now a state senator.

Follow the reporter @newsterrier.