San Mateo County voters on Tuesday will decide in a special election if Sheriff Christina Corpus keeps her job.
It has been a tumultous six months for Corpus, and Tuesday’s outcome should be one step closer to an answer. The special election will determine if the county Board of Supervisors has the power to remove a sheriff with cause with a four-fifths vote.
In November, a more than 400-page report was released alleging Corpus abused her power, used intimidation and retaliation tactics, engaged in a conflict of interest and used racist and homophobic language.
Since the report was released, supervisors have urged Corpus to resign.
But Corpus has pushed back. She maintains she is the victim of false lies and accusations from those who want to keep the sheriff’s office a "white man’s world." She filed a $10 million claim against San Mateo County.
Through it all, Corpus says she is not resigning from her post. But voters passed Measure A in December, calling for Tuesday's special election, which could force her out.
"By allowing the Board of supervisors to do this, they also get to appoint an interim replacement," said Noel Higdon, political analyst at UC Santa Cruz. "So that seems semi-undemocractic 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."
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Measure A is not the first time voters have given a board the opportunity to remove a sheriff. It has happened before in various counties across the state, but not often.
NBC Bay Area spoke to some voters on Tuesday and their reactions were mixed.
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"I think it’s the right thing to move forward with it and it’s kind of a shame that it came to this point and they couldn’t find any other solution," said Florian Rubelt of Menlo Park.
"Mostly, I don’t really appreciate having a special election. It wasn’t well publicized," said John Gonzalez of Menlo Park. I don’t appreciate having the money spent on it. It just feels like a little bit of a power grab and also a waste of taxpayer money.”
The polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday in San Mateo County and the first results will be released on the elections office website about ten minutes later.
Officials added that mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Tuesday will be counted as they come in.
