2 Will Vie for County Clerk Job

Assistant County Recorder Phil Schmit and Board of Education Trustee Yvonne Gallegos Bodle will face off in a November runoff election to decide who becomes the next county clerk, Ventura County elections officials said Thursday.

Schmit, who is backed by retiring clerk Richard Dean, was the top vote-getter among the six candidates in the March 5 primary, taking 34.4% of the vote.

When no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, however, the top two contenders compete in a runoff on the general election ballot.

Initially, Oxnard City Clerk Daniel Martinez appeared to have edged out Bodle for the second spot.

But in final returns, which also took into account 10,000 absentee and provisional ballots, Bodle was the second-highest vote-getter, with 157 votes more than Martinez, or 20.1% of the vote.

Bodle credited her 81-year-old mother for helping her into the runoff.

“She was out at shopping malls, senior citizens’ places and trailer parks with her friends passing out my campaign materials,” Bodle said.

“I think Mom did the trick for me.”

The county clerk oversees local elections, issues marriage licenses, assembles agendas for the Board of Supervisors, records property transactions and keeps vital county statistics such as births and deaths.

Dean’s replacement will grapple with whether to change the county’s punch-card ballot system, which is old-fashioned but has a relatively low error rate. The next clerk also will be under pressure to bolster safeguards for county documents to minimize cases of identity theft.