Once the judge ruled, this headline was inevitable. After all, Janet Nguyen was up by seven votes (that’s right, 7) over Trung Nguyen. So a Nguyen was going to win.
Janet Nguyen was down by seven votes and asked for a recount. After the recount concluded, she was up by seven votes. Trung Nguyen, who was now in second place, filed a lawsuit claiming that the recount was done in an illegal fashion. Yesterday, Judge Michael Brenner ruled that the recount was legal and that Janet Nguyen won by three votes. This afternoon Janet Nguyen will be sworn in as Supervisor for Orange County’s 1st District. Ms. Nguyen will be the youngest Supervisor and the first Asian-American (and Vietnamese) Supervisor in Orange County’s History.
One result that this election reinforces: your vote matters. I’m not in the 1st Supervisorial District, but those four Trung Nguyen supporters who forgot to vote in February are probably very unhappy right now. (For the record, Trung Nguyen is planning on filing an appeal.)