Newman hopefuls face tie in election

Two candidates who tied in the Newman school board election could decide the matter Monday by drawing lots.

The race between Roselee Hurst and Laura Elkinton was the only one left unsettled in final results released Friday by the Stanislaus County elections office.

Hurst and Elkinton each had 357 votes in the election for the third of three seats on the Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District board. Tim Bazar and Janice Conforti won the other seats.

As allowed by state law, the district plans to decide the election by random drawing at a special board meeting. The exact procedure has not been determined, Superintendent Ed Felt said.

The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. at the district office, 890 Main St., Newman.

The results released Friday include the last of the ballots that needed to be counted from the Nov. 8 election. Unless candidates ask for recounts, the outcomes will stand.

The election drew a turnout of 22.43 percent of the county's 227,278 registered voters, clerk-recorder Lee Lundrigan reported.

Highlights from the final tally:

• Modesto City Schools: Amy Neumann won the race for the third of three seats, 23 votes ahead of Solange Altman. Cathy Flores Hallinan and Steve Grenbeaux won the two other seats.

• Patterson school board: Kay Silva Johnson, Bruce Kelly, Amy Hussar and Jose Reynoso won seats. Elisa Pinedo-Medina missed by five votes, Alex Saballos by 23.

• Knights Ferry school board: Sherron McCarthy won by a single vote over Kym Cassaretto for the second of two seats. Maureen McKibban won the first.

• Stanislaus Union school board: Jeff McKay won by 43 votes over Thomas Freeman in the race for the second of two seats. Susan Elliott won the first.

• Sylvan school board: David Collins and Jennifer Miyakawa won seats. Chuck Rivera finished 190 votes back.

• Valley Home school board: Larry Betschart, Heather Duvall and Shara Ruddy were elected.

• Ceres City Council: Mike Kline won the second of two four-year seats, beating Guillermo Ochoa by 29 votes. Bret Durossette won the other. Eric Ingwerson topped Linda Ryno for a two-year seat by 158 votes.

• Keyes Community Services District: Mike Bernal and Casey Chadwick were elected.

• Patterson Irrigation District: Daniel Robinson won with 25 votes, compared with 20 for Steve Prevostini.

• Empire Sanitary District: Thomas Burns and Kathy Hankins won four-year terms. L.B. Haney and Louise Little were elected to two-year terms.

• Salida Sanitary District: Donna Murphy, Brad Johnson and Gary Horton won seats.