The special elections to find a replacement for former state senator Gloria Negrete-McLeod will cost county taxpayers $1.4 million, the county registrar of voters has predicted.
This week San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Michael Scarpello requested, and the board of supervisors granted, the appropriation of $1,403,100 in general fund contingency money in connection with the conducting of a special primary election on March 12, 2013 and a special general election on May 14, 2013 to fill the vacancy in California State Senate District 32.
That vacancy came about when Negrete-McLeod, who was elected to a four-year state senate term in 2010, was victorious in her run for Congress in November.
“The California State Senate District 32 elections require the use of general fund contingencies because the state is not expected to reimburse the county,” Scarpello told the board of supervisors before that panel approved the provision of the money.