Jeffries to Make Announcement About Election Results

Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries will make an announcement Wednesday regarding the outcome of the race to be the Riverside County supervisor representing the First District.

"I have decided to make a campaign announcement ... immediately following the election count update from the Registrar of Voters," Jeffries, R- Lake Elsinore, told City News Service via email.

"I am very pleased with the current lead and believe that after the update is given, I should be able to announce some good news about the election and the new direction and energy that will come from the future First District office," he said.

The announcement will be made on Jeffries' website, via email, Facebook and Twitter.

Incumbent Supervisor Bob Buster told CNS today that he would "reserve comment" on the Nov. 6 general election until a later time.

The most recent ballot count, posted Monday, had Jeffries winning 56,826 votes compared to 55,692 for Buster, or 50.50 percent to 49.50 percent. The challenger said it was his "highest lead" yet in the ballot tally.

According to the Registrar of Voters' website, 33,000 provisional ballots were left to be processed. Generally, provisionals are requested at polling places when a voter seeks to cast a ballot but his or her name does not appear on voter registration rolls. They're asked to vote provisionally, and then the county conducts research to confirm they're actually registered so their vote can be tabulated. Otherwise, it's rejected.

The next vote count update is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday.

This was the first time Buster had been forced into a runoff election since his inaugural campaign in 1992. The Harvard-educated citrus farmer failed to win more than 50 percent of the vote in the June primary.

Buster's camp underscored a record of trying to improve the local economy and save the county money through public employee pension reform and the acquisition of federal grants for transportation projects that employee local workers.

Jeffries, who is being termed out of office in the state Legislature, criticized Buster's six-figure pension and vowed that if elected, he would work to convert all the supervisors' retirement plans to self-funded 401(k)s. The property management firm owner also blasted the incumbent for supporting some aspects of  Gov. Jerry Brown's 2011 "realignment" initiative that resulted in many state responsibilities being shifted onto counties.

-City News Service