Too few voters decide key contests

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Some "day after" reflections on the election that was:

• "Low" hardly describes the voter turnout in Stanislaus County. Only about one out of every five of the county's 209,000 eligible voters bothered to cast ballots. In Modesto, the low turnout coupled with the switch to districts meant that about 400 votes — probably a few more once the final count is completed — elected Dave Geer to the council that governs the city of 200,000-plus residents.

• The area's two largest irrigation districts have fresh faces on their boards. Voters had enough of incumbent Mike Serpa's disruptive and disrespectful behavior and booted him from the Modesto Irrigation District board after one unproductive term, preferring challenger Glen Wild while also re-electing Tom Van Groningen and Paul Warda. To the south, three of the five faces on the Turlock Irrigation District board are new. Runaway winners Tuesday were Joe Alamo, who garnered nearly 84 percent of the Division 3 vote, and Ron Macedo, who drew more than 70 percent of the votes in Division 5; both replaced directors who did not seek re-election. Earlier in the day, the TID board made a smart move by appointing Michael Frantz to fill out the remaining two years of the term of longtime director Phil Short, who died recently.

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• The distasteful drama and dysfunction isn't over in Riverbank, where Virginia Madueño holds a 55-vote lead over Richard O'Brien, with an unknown number of ballots to be counted in the mayor's race. They both outdistanced Councilman Dave White, who voiced his strong dislike of Madueño even as votes were being counted Tuesday night: "My philosophy at the start of this was anyone but Virginia," he said as O'Brien held an early lead. Unfortunately, we have not heard the last of White, who remains on the council until his term expires in 2010, regardless of who wins the mayor's race.