San Mateo County Measure A Results: Sheriff's Future Lies In Outcome

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — The polls have now closed and San Mateo County residents have cast their votes, deciding if officials can oust Sheriff Christina Corpus.

In December, the board of supervisors called for Tuesday's special election for Measure A, a charter amendment that would give them the authority to remove an elected sheriff for cause with a four-fifths vote.

Scroll to see live results below.

Measure A reads as follows:

COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENT Shall the measure amending the San Mateo County Charter to grant the Board of Supervisors authority until December 31, 2028 to remove an elected Sheriff from office for cause, including for violation of law related to a Sheriff’s duties, flagrant or repeated neglect of duties, misappropriation of public funds, willful falsification of documents, or obstructing an investigation, by a four-fifths vote of the Board of Supervisors, after written notice and an opportunity to be heard, be adopted?

What voters need to know

• If approved, Measure A will allow the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors to vote to fire Sheriff Christina Corpus.
• The first wave of results was scheduled for 8:10 p.m., and includes ballots received by mail through Monday, and ballots that were dropped off at a vote center or drop box by Monday.
• Additional results won't be released until 9 p.m., at which time vote center ballots will be added to the overall tally for Measure A.
• Results will be updated hourly beginning at 9 p.m. until all the vote center ballots are counted.
• Following that, the county says results will be released on March 6, 10, 12 and 14.

SEE LIVE RESULTS HERE

Results of the election will be certified on April 3.

There are 444,497 registered voters in San Mateo County, according to election officials. By Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., officials reported that 91,112 vote-by-mail ballots had been received. At vote centers, at least 1,216 ballots were received.

The election came months after the county hired former Judge LaDoris Cordell to investigate Corpus after multiple sheriff's deputies came forward with complaints of retaliation. Deputies also shared details of an inappropriate relationship between Corpus and her Chief of Staff, Victor Aenlle.

What followed was a 400-page report of interviews with current and past employees that alleged abuse of power, retaliation, intimidation, homophobia and racism in Corpus' office.

After the report, calls for Corpus to step down came from a growing list of local and state politicians, the Board of Supervisors, the San Carlos City Council, and unions representing sheriff's deputies in the county.

Corpus has refused to resign, but voters will decide whether the county Board of Supervisors can oust her from office.

"By allowing the Board of supervisors to do this, they also get to appoint an interim replacement," Noel Higdon, political analyst at UC Santa Cruz told NBC Bay Area. "So that seems semi-undemocratic in the sense that the person who was elected could be overthrown by this board, and then someone who was not elected could replace them."

READ MORE: Board Accuses Sheriff Of Lies, Abuse, And Using Homophobic Slur

Following the report against Corpus last year, the sheriff was reportedly quick to fire union president Carlos Tapia, one of her biggest critics. She also ordered his arrest on charges that were later dropped by the District Attorney's Office.

After Tapia's arrest, Corpus said that she was targeted by a "good old boy system."

"I am a woman of color who has gone up the ranks in a male-dominated field," Corpus said in a November press conference.

Then, on Dec. 3, Corpus filed a claim against the county. Her lawyer, Bradley Gage, says Corpus, who is Latina, has been the victim of discrimination, harassment and defamation.

"There are some who unfortunately still believe that law enforcement is a white man's world," the claim alleges. "They have tried to spread false and salacious rumors about Sheriff Corpus. Some of those detractors do not like the fact that she is the first female and first Latin X Sheriff in the 167-year history of the Sheriff's Department."

The county hit back in response to the claim in a statement in January, saying that the allegations are "baseless and a distraction."

READ MORE: SMC Sheriff Files $10M Claim Over 'Evil Scheme' Against Her

Bay City News contributed to this report.