Mail ballots sent for Nov. 8 election; registration deadline looms

As the Nov. 8 presidential election approaches, close to 153,000 mail ballots have been sent to voters in Stanislaus County.

So far, that represents 65 percent of the county’s registered voters and the number will grow. The county elections office will process vote-by-mail requests and provide the ballots to voters until Nov. 1.

The voter registration deadline for the election is Monday. Stanislaus County has 234,328 registered voters.

The contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump shares the crowded ballot with congressional and state elections, 17 statewide ballot initiatives, local races and the Measure L transportation tax.

Voters will find the the half-cent sales tax measure at the end of the state propositions on the ballot. Measure L, requiring two-thirds approval, is a third attempt to pass a countywide transportation tax after previous attempts failed in 2006 and 2008. It would generate an estimated $960 million over 25 years, with half of the money going to local street and road improvements.

The ballot also includes the U.S. Senate race between California Attorney General Kamala Harris and fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez.

Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, seeks another term in the House of Representatives against Democratic challenger Michael Eggman. In two races for state Assembly, Heath Flora is pitted against Ken Vogel in District 12 and Democratic incumbent Adam Gray of Merced is challenged by Greg Opinski in District 21.

State Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, D-Manteca, faces Republican Alan Nakanishi for the District 5 Senate seat.

Turlock is electing City Council members by district for the first time. Gil Esquer and Jaime Franco are running for the District 2 seat; in District 4, it’s a three-way race including Steven Nascimento, Amy Bublak and Donald Babadalir. Incumbent Diana Lewis and Alex Paul Kiehl are in a contested race for city treasurer in Turlock.

In Patterson, Councilwoman Deborah Novelli and Troy McComak are running for mayor. Joshua Naranjo is pitted against Chinyere “Chi Chi” Jack for the District A council seat and Councilman Dominic Farinha is unopposed in District C.

In Waterford, the choices for two council seats are incumbent Jose Aldaco, Zina Strait and Thomas Powell. The mayor and council seats in Newman are uncontested.

Four seats on the Yosemite Community College District board are contested. The candidates include: incumbent Abe Rojas, Bill Holly and Kevin Sabo in Area 3; incumbent Linda Flores and Darin Gharat in Area 5; Patrick Kolasinski and Leslie Beggs in Area 6; and incumbent Tom Hallinan and Jon Rodriguez in Area 7.

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 7:09 PM with the headline "Mail ballots sent for Nov. 8 election; registration deadline looms."