Calaveras County Candidate Bruce Giudici, Who Died in August, Leads His Supervisor Race by 497 Votes

Bruce Giudici leads the race for the District 5 seat on the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors by 2,002 votes to 1,505, on the county’s unofficial results report run at 4:29 p.m. on Tuesday 10 November. He died on 31 August, a day after falling while knocking on doors for his campaign, People reported.

That gives a candidate who died 64 days before the 3 November election 57.09 per cent of the vote, a lead of 497. By this publication’s count of the county’s own figures, the ballots still outstanding in the whole of Calaveras County number 508, and his opponent, Clyde Clapp, would need at least 503 of them, all in District 5. Under California law, if the lead holds the seat will be vacant from the first day of the term and the governor will fill it.

What the count shows

The table sets the 10 November result beside the June primary that sent the two men to a runoff. In June, the incumbent supervisor, Benjamin Stopper, finished third with 792 votes, and neither leader had a majority, myMotherLode.com reported. Mr Stopper has since said he would still vote for Mr Giudici: “He’s the best guy for the job, even in this situation, unfortunately,” according to People.

Mr Giudici led in both kinds of ballot: 334 to 287 among votes cast in person and 1,668 to 1,218 among mail ballots, the county report shows. District 5 has 6,462 registered voters, of whom 4,013, or 62.10 per cent, returned a ballot. Of those, 3,507 marked a choice in this race, which leaves 506 ballots in the district with no vote for supervisor. Across the county, 21,563 of 32,758 registered voters had cast ballots.

Can the remaining ballots change the result?

Not on the county’s figures. Its current results page lists 168 ballots still unprocessed, one of them provisional and 167 damaged or needing review, and 340 ballots left to cure, meaning ballots the voter can still fix before they are counted. That is 508 ballots across all five supervisor districts. Even if every one of them came from District 5, was cured and marked this race, Mr Clapp would need 503 and Mr Giudici no more than five for the order to change. This publication has written before about how much rests on such ballots in a close race; this is not one. The county’s next update is due at 5 p.m. on Friday 13 November, and it must certify the election by 3 December.

Why his name stayed on the ballot

Because he died too late to remove it. Section 15402 of the California Elections Code covers a candidate for an office that is not voter-nominated, which includes nonpartisan county offices such as supervisor, who dies after the 68th day before the election. The votes cast for that candidate “shall be counted in determining the results of the election,” and if the dead candidate wins a majority, the office is vacant at the beginning of the term and the vacancy is filled as if the candidate had died after taking office. The 68th day before 3 November was Thursday 27 August. Mr Giudici died four days later.

The term begins on Monday 4 January 2027. Government Code section 24200 says county officers elected in a general election take office at noon on the first Monday after the 1 January that follows. From that moment the seat would be empty, and section 25060 gives the appointment to the governor: whenever a vacancy occurs on a board of supervisors, the governor fills it, and the appointee holds office until a successor is elected and qualifies. Neither the board nor Mr Clapp has a claim under the statute. It is the same pattern this publication found in New Jersey, where a governor can fill a vacant office without a legislative vote.

Has this happened before in California?

Yes, at city level. In 2016 Oceanside elected Gary Ernst as city treasurer although he had died in September, and the city council, not the voters, chose his replacement, FindLaw reported. In 2022 early returns showed Simon Silva, who had died of cancer in September, leading the race for Chula Vista city attorney with 52 per cent, KPBS reported. The difference in Calaveras is who appoints: for a county board, section 25060 skips the board and goes to the governor. Mr Giudici’s campaign said after his death that “Bruce’s fight will not end today,” People reported. “I think it’s a tragedy,” Mr Clapp said, according to People. “I pray for his family.”

Mr Giudici was 68 and had run for the seat in 2016 and 2018, both times against Mr Clapp. If Friday’s update and the 3 December certification hold the order, the decision that follows will be made in Sacramento, by appointment, to a seat the voters gave to a man who could not take it.