Still a long way to go before election is settled
The voting may be done, but the 2018 midterm elections are far from over.
No updates to results were posted Wednesday. The Imperial County Registrar of Voters said it will issue another “Uno cial Election Results” update today on the Registrar’s website at www.co.imperial.ca.us/regvoters for Tuesday’s primary election.
The uno cial update will include all polling place voters and an undetermined number of vote-by-mail ballots received on or before Election Day. This will not be a final tally of all ballots.
As of Wednesday, the county said there are approximately 8,800 unprocessed vote-by-mail ballots, including an undetermined number of vote-bymail ballots postmarked by Nov. 6 that have not yet been received by the Registrar’s o ce.
These postmarked ballots must be received by the Registrar’s o ce by 5 p.m. Friday. Furthermore, the Registrar’s o ce said it anticipates receiving additional ballots that were deposited to outside counties.
The unprocessed vote-by-mail ballots do not include an undetermined number of provisional ballots. Provisional ballots are counted after all voter rosters are reviewed and the voter’s history is applied to the voter’s record. The procedure for tallying provisional ballots is just as lengthy as processing vote-by-mail ballots, but requires some additional steps to take. This process includes:
• Sta members work one precinct at a time and one provisional envelope at a time;
• Each voter of a provisional ballot must be located on the Election Management System identified by name, address and/or birthdate. Updates to changed addresses are made at this time;
• Signatures are validated through the EMS; and
• Provisional ballots are cross referenced to precinct voter rosters to ensure multiple ballots were not cast.
The Registrar’s office said its staff will continue to work diligently to complete the election canvassing process and update the public of results in a timely manner.
“The Registrar’s office wishes to thank the public for their patience as they continue to conduct canvassing for this election,” the county said in a release.
For further information, contact the Registrar of Voters’ office at (442) 2651060.
What we know so far
Theoretically, the outstanding ballots could be for anybody, which is why no one has officially won anything yet. Statistically speaking, however, the trends seen Tuesday will probably hold up.
So while it’s still too soon to call, it looks like a shakeup is coming to the county Board of Supervisors. As of midnight Tuesday, Jesus Eduardo Escobar had widened his gap on incumbent John Renison. He leads 1,825 votes to 1,682.
Trial attorney Monica Lepe-Negrete appear to have locked up the No. 3 seat in the Superior Court. She’s up 11,191 votes to 8,168 over fellow attorney Thomas Storey.
Norma Sierra Galindo looks like she’s going to keep her seat on the IID Board. She leads Carlos Zaragoza 2,312 votes to 2,027.
Meanwhile in El Centro, Mayor Cheryl Viegas-Walker appears to have kept her City Council seat, and it seems she’ll be joined on the council by Tomas Oliva, senior field representative for Congressman Juan Vargas. Walker and Oliva had 1,934 and 1904 votes through Tuesday. The closest challenger was restaurateur Jaime Honold with 1,779.
James Tucker and Karin Eugenio appear likely to win Imperial City Council seats once all the votes are tallied. Current Mayor Geoff Dale is probably going to hold onto his seat as well, although he’s got a lot less breathing room. Dale leads incumbent Betty Sampson by a mere 64 votes.
David Romero and Rosie Arreola-Fernandez are well on their way to winning Calexico’s two open City Council seats. Romero has 1,203 votes, and Arreola-Fernandez has 1,141. They lead Joong Kim (1,003), Morris Reisin (992), Carlos “Jesse” Contreras (861), Javier Moreno (850) and Camilo Garcia (612).
Tuesday was not a good day to be running as an incumbent for the Calipatria City Council. CHP Officer Javier Lorenzo Amezcua, retiree Hector H. Cervantes and zanjero Huston H. Hisel led incumbents Fidel Flores and Fred R. Beltran for the three open seats as of midnight. Only Hisel’s 30-vote gap over Flores is narrow enough to appear vulnerable to a comeback.
Ciro C. Calderon, Richard L. Romero and Lorenzo “Lencho” Calderon Jr. all appear to have won a seat on the Calexico Unified School District Board of Trustees. Calderon led with 2,042 votes, or 23.7 percent of the tally, while Romero had 1,816, or 21.07 percent, and Calderon had 1,687 votes, or 19.58 percent.
Ben Abatti Jr., Kevin Grizzle and Robin Cartee are the leading vote-getters for three seats on the Holtville Unified School District Board of Trustees. Abatti was the leader with 627 votes, or 19.49 percent, while Grizzle had 605 votes, or 18.81 percent, and Cartee had 565 votes, or 17.56 percent.
Abdul “Mr. Mo” Mohamed, John James Denault and Jill Tucker all appear to have won seats on the Imperial Unified School District Board of Trustees. Mohamed was the top vote-getter with 1,525 votes, or 24.56 percent, while Denault had 1,384 votes, or 22.29 percent, and Tucker had 1,327 votes, or 21.37 percent of the votes.
Gil Rebollar and Armando Padilla have both won seats on the Brawley Elementary School District Board of Trustees, with Rebollar leading the way with 1,568 votes, or 29.73 percent, and Padilla with 1,327 votes, or 25.16 percent.
Eddie N. Hernandez and Katalina Penland each have won a seat on the El Centro Elementary School District Board of Trustees. Hernandez was the top vote-getter with 2,328 votes, or 32.53 percent, while Penland had 1,800 votes, or 25.15 percent.
Retired kindergarten teacher Alexa J. Horne handily won one of two seats on the McCabe Union Elementary School Board of Trustees with 707 votes, or 47.26 percent of the votes cast. Judy Tagg was a distant second, but enough to hold onto her seat, with 413 votes, or 27.61 percent of the vote.
Karin J. Morgan handily won one of two seats available on the Brawley Union High School District Board of Trustees with 1,994 votes, or 34.95 percent of the vote. Only two votes separated Ralph Fernandez (1,254 votes) and Gabriel Contreras (1,252 votes) for the final seat, with what is thousands of ballots left to be counted.
Gloria B. Grijalva and incumbent Norma M. Apodaca have won seats on the Heffernan Memorial Healthcare District Board of Directors. Newcomer Grijalva garnered 1,838 votes, or 30.61 percent of the votes cast, while Apodaca won 1,634 votes, or 27.21 percent. Heffernan district primarily serves the Calexico area.
Lorenzo H. Suarez, Linda Sanders Rubin and Maria Garcia-Aguilera have all won seats on the Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District Board of Directors in Brawley. Suarez led the way with 2,904 votes, or 31.59 percent. Rubin had 2,300 votes, or 25.02 percent, and Garcia-Aguilera had 2,034 votes, or 22.13 percent of the votes.
Imperial Valley Press will continue to provide updates as they are available.