vote-buying, and also deemed the offer racist and demeaning. The voucher incident severely crippled Harris's campaign. On March 30, in a special run-off election with 15% turnout, Harris lost by less than 1,000 votes to Bock. It was one of the largest political upsets in California history—as Bock became the first Green Party candidate in the country to be elected to a state legislative body. Bock's victory was heralded by progressives across the country, but was minimized by the fact that she had been elected in a very low turnout special election—after a series of five special elections in less than twelve months. Bock's victory ended the year-long Special Election musical chairs. In the following seven years, the East Bay did not have a special election for statewide or congressional office. Retrospective analysis Holding five special elections in less than twelve months cost the state an enormous amount of money. With repeated special elections, voter turnout declined, placing fateful decisions of who would dominate East Bay politics in the hands of a small minority of the area's population who are generally more informed and more politically active. Inevitability Some argue that Ron Dellums should not have resigned in the middle of his term and that his decision to retire prematurely caused the chain reaction of special elections. However, his mid-term resignation was not the only cause of the chain reaction. Had Dellums simply retired at the end of his term in November 1998 and endorsed Barbara Lee as his successor, the April 1998 congressional election and the September 1998 state Senate election would have been avoided, but, assuming Lee would still have run for and won the House seat, she would have then been forced to resign her state Senate seat, creating the need for a special election in February 1999, and possibly follow-on elections as well. Election law for special elections Another issue that played out in these elections is whether California election law should be amended to deal with how and when run-off special elections should be held. Section 10706(a) of the California Election Code, which governs special elections, said at the time: If no candidate receives a majority of votes cast, the name of that candidate of each qualified political party who receives the most votes cast for all candidates of that party shall be placed on the special general election ballot as the candidate of that