She was holding on to her job against strong odds, but it looks like San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus will be removed following a special election Tuesday that had a relatively low turnout.

Preliminary results from Tuesday's election show 85% of voters voting "yes" on Measure A, which was the only measure on the ballot. The measure gives the county board of supervisors the power to fire an elected sheriff for cause, a power they previously lacked. The measure will expire in 2028, which coincides with Corpus's term in office, as KTVU notes, and it will require four out of five supervisors to vote to remove her.

Corpus came under fire last year for hiring a romantic partner to a chief of staff position, and an independent investigation revealed allegations of racism and homophobia in Corpus's exchanges with staff. She was also accused of engaging in "retaliation and intimidation tactics," and that romantic partner/staffer, Victor Aenlle, was accused of moonlighting as a real estate agent and having conflicts of interest because of this. Corpus fired Assistant Sheriff Ryan Monaghan, her third in command, shortly after he participated in the investigation, but she denied that this was retaliatory.

Also, a frequent critic of Corpus, San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association president Carlos Tapia, was arrested on grand theft charges, and those charges were later dropped.

The independent investigator who prepared the report on Corpus last year, retired Santa Clara Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell, wrote that "Lies, secrecy … conflicts of interest and abuses of authority are the hallmarks of the Corpus administration."

Corpus denied all of the allegations, calling them "outright slander" and calling Cordell's report "a hatchet job of an inquiry." And she filed a lawsuit against the county in January, alleging discrimination, defamation, and harassment.

On Tuesday, Corpus's attorney Brad Gage put out a statement saying, "We think it’s an unconstitutional election. We think it’s discriminatory because it is going into effect now. To target one person, and one person only. The first Latina sheriff and it ends after her term is over in 2028."

As the Chronicle reports, around 92,000 votes had been counted as of Tuesday night, out of the county's 444,000 registered voters, and the vast majority of votes counted so far were mail-in ballots. But any ballots mailed on Tuesday still have seven days to be counted, so more may be flowing in.

"Given how focused this was on Sheriff Corpus and her actions, we believe that this was essentially an expedited recall," says Eliot Storch, secretary for the San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, in a statement to KTVU. "If anyone wanted to make their voice heard, they had every opportunity to vote."

Previously: San Mateo County Sheriff Drama Continues as County Leaders Scoff at Lawsuit Threat