Hector Camacho Jr. has moved into the lead in the race for San Mateo County Board of Education superintendent, taking the lead away from Chelsea Bonini.
The county elections department counted an additional 8,911 ballots in the race and Camacho’s share of the vote went from 49.52% to 50.57%.
The new totals are:
Camacho 37,233 — 50.57%
Bonini 36,395 — 49.43%
On Election Night, it looked like Bonini was going to win the seat by a narrow margin. The additional votes show the outcome isn’t certain.
If Bonini wins, she will face questions about whether she is qualified for the job. State law sets specific qualifications for a county superintendent, and it appears she doesn’t have the full credential held by principals, district superintendents and other school administrators. If she wins, it is possible that Camacho may go to court to challenge whether she is legally permitted to assume the job.
A candidate for county schools superintendent in Orange County was kicked off the ballot in April, according to local media reports. Anaheim Elementary School District Trustee Jeff Cole was removed after resident Mark Bucher sued the Orange County Elections Office for placing a candidate without the proper credential on the ballot. An Orange County judge ordered Cole be removed from the ballot.
Camacho, who is employed as an executive director in the county Board of Education office, meets the administrator requirement to assume the job of superintendent.
Bonini and Camacho are seeking a position with no term limits that oversees the Office of Education’s 291 regular and part-time employees and a budget of about $115 million. The superintendent receives a salary of $362,911, pay records show.
The Orange county election intervened BEFORE voters cast votes, which means the candidate was not included on the ballot during the allowed public examination of the candidate’s application , unlike in this case. Bonini was cleared to be on the ballot, past the scrutiny. No slight of hand here. If Camacho questioned her credentials he could of made the same challenge during the same period, why didn’t he?
How come it’s up to Camacho to do the job of the county elections chief, Mark Church? Church should have taken the time to see if Bonini was qualified. That’s not the job of the opposing candidate.