BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The race for California Senate District 16 between Democratic incumbent Melissa Hurtado and Republican David Shepard has yet to be called as there is only a 20-vote difference between the two with Hurtado leading the way. She is currently holding 68,457 votes to Shepard's 68,437 in district-wide results.
However, it is a different story in Kern County as Hurtado leads comfortably with 35,992 votes to Shepard's 26,025 votes.
Shepard released a statement Saturday saying, in part, "Kern County Elections misreported to the secretary of state they were in possession of 10,000 fewer ballots than they ended up counting."
As a result, Shepard says he might request a recount, saying his team is closely monitoring the issues and wants to make sure all ballots are counted.
The Kern County Elections Office sent an e-mail stating it had found 10 un-opened and uncounted eligible ballots. Five of those ballots did include the District 16 state senate race between Shepard and Hurtado. However, they say it wouldn't change the results of the election.
This issue was brought up during Tuesday's Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting when District 1 Supervisor Phillip Peters asked Kern County Auditor-Controller County Clerk Mary Bedard about the ballots.
"The fact that even one vote might not get counted is alarming. And the fact that 10 of those, 5 of them in an extremely tight race, it just further erodes the confidence in elections for the public."
Bedard responded to Peters when he asked what might have caused this issue and if there was a way to address it in the future.
"There should have been a thorough review," she said. "And that is obviously the area we are looking at."
Bedard goes on to say her office is looking at implementing specific procedures to ensure this never happens again.
Despite the race not being called, Hurtado announced on Twitter she was sworn into office on Saturday saying "it was my honor to be sworn in today as California’s state senator representing the 16th District."
23ABC spoke with political analyst Ian Anderson, an adjunct professor of political science at Taft College on if Shepard is able to request a recount and what the process would be. He said any registered voter in California is able to request a recount with the secretary of state within five days after votes have been certified.
If Shepard requests a recount and it is approved, the counties of Kern, Tulare, and Fresno would have to begin recounting the votes. 23ABC also asked him about Hurtado being sworn in before the election has been called.
"Is it normal? It's within the rights of a candidate to request this, though it would not stop the certification of the elections. So if something changed after the recount happened, that would have to talk to the secretary of state to change the outcome."
Anderson goes on to say the secretary of state can not stop the certification under the election law.