As of Monday, preliminary results in Gustine and Newman local elections show decisive leads in several key races, though the official verification will not come until a later date.
Gustine City Council Race (Vote for 2):
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Mark D. Melville leads the field with 470 votes for 36.72 percent, followed closely by Blake Mitchell Giles with 455 votes for 35.55 percent. Laura Lopez trails with 344 votes for 26.88 percent, while write-in candidates garnered a total of 11 votes. Melville and Giles currently look poised to secure the two available council seats.
Gustine Unified School District, Area 4:
In the race for Area 4 on the Gustine Unified School District Board, Andrew Bloom leads with 132 votes for 59.19 percent, surpassing Loretta Rose, who has received 91 votes for 40.81 percent. No write-in votes were recorded.
Central California Irrigation District Area 2
Andrew Bloom appears to be poised to win a seat on the CCID. He has garnered 192 votes for 64.43 percent and Michael Brinkman got 106 votes for 35.57 percent.
Santa Nella County Water District Director
This race was a four-way contest. John Schranz got 132 votes for 31.13 percent; Susan Walker followed with 124 votes for 29.25 percent; Stephen Landry had 115 votes for 27.12 percent and Wayne Tallman got 44 votes for 10.38 percent. There were nine write-ins for 2.12 percent.
Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District Board Races:
In the race for Area 3, Lyzette Gonzalez is significantly ahead with 368 votes for 64.90 percent, while Scott K. Schaa has received 199 votes for 35.10 percent.
In Area 4, Derek Wach had 234 votes for 49.68 percent, followed by Matthew Harden, who got 124 votes for 26.33 percent. Mario A. Martins has 113 votes for 23.99 percent.
Newman City Council Race (Vote for no more than 2):
The race for two seats on the Newman City Council sees Gisel Pimentel in the lead with 1,333 votes for 49.63 percent. Matthew L. Harden follows with 732 votes for 27.25 percent while Laroy McDonald has received 621 votes for 23.12 percent. At this time, Pimentel and Harden appear to be the top choices for the council seats.
West Side Healthcare District Director
This race saw incumbent Shaun Felber going up against Bob Vargas. Vargas has garnered 25 votes in Merced County and 413 in Stanislaus for a total of 438 votes. Felber got 20 votes in Merced County and 232 in Stanislaus for a total of 252 votes.
Measures
In Merced County, Measure R got 24,402 yes votes for 57.78 percent and 17,834 no votes for 42.22 percent. The Measure, which would have raised the sales tax in the county to boost public safety spending, needed to get two-thirds of the vote to pass.
Measure A, which would have added a parcel tax to fund the West Side Community Healthcare District, also failed to get the needed two-thirds majority. Between Merced and Stanislaus counties, the Measure got 2,256 yes votes for an average of 53.96 percent and 1.896 no votes for an average of 46.03 percent.
Both of the Newman Crows Landing unified School District bonds look to have the needed 55 percent to pass. Measure S got 1,778 yes votes for 58.97 percent and 1,237 no votes for 41.03 percent. A yes vote supported authorizing the Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District to issue $30,000,000 in bonds and levy below $45 per $100,000 assessed value while bonds are outstanding.
Measure T had 1,823 yes votes for 60.42 percent and 1,194 no votes for 39.58 percent. A yes vote supported authorizing the Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District to issue $27,000,000 in bonds and levy below $43 per $100,000 assessed value while bonds are outstanding.
The Elections Office continues to scan each vote by mail envelope to credit voters with casting a ballot and check the signature on each envelope against the signature located on each voter’s original affidavit of registration, ballots are then sorted, and prepared for count. California law now extends the time period VBM ballots must be accepted beyond Election Day increasing the number of ballots to be processed. VBM ballots postmarked timely on Election Day can be received for seven additional days.
The duplication process involving damaged, military and overseas ballots to enable them ultimately to be counted is in process and is anticipated to continue throughout the canvass.
Per Assembly Bill 3184 all California counties are prohibited from certifying prior to Dec. 3.
