County posts final results in tight races for Modesto council, college board, bonds
The final count from the Nov. 3 election put Chris Ricci on the Modesto City Council and Milton Richards on the Yosemite Community College District board.
Waterford’s school bond measure fell just two votes short of the required 55% approval.
The Stanislaus County Election Office released the last of the results late Monday. It added 1,841 ballots, for a total of 217,517.
Turnout was 77.8% of registered voters, a sign of high interest in an election involving offices from president on down to local boards. The ballots were long also because many races no longer take place in odd-numbered years.
COVID-19 forced an all-mail election to guard against spreading the virus at polling places. Everyone in California received a ballot in the mail and could mail it back or drop it off at a designated site.
Highlights for Stanislaus:
Modesto council: Ricci defeated Janice Keating for the District 3 seat with 5,179 votes, or 35%. Keating had 5,004 votes, or 33.9%. Jim Applegate finished a strong third with 4,597 votes, or 31.1%. Rosa Escutia-Braaton and David Wright won the other two council seats by wider margins
Modesto mayor: Sue Zwahlen and Doug Ridenour have a Feb. 2 runoff because no one in the eight-candidate field topped 50%. Zwahlen finished at 23.8% and Ridenour at 19.4%. Rick Countryman was third at 17.6% and Kristi Ah You fourth at 17.2% Incumbent Ted Brandvold finished fifth at 14.5%.
College board: Richards won the Turlock-area seat with 15,093 votes to 15,005 for Bryan Rogers. The totals include the small part of Area 3 in northern Merced County. YCCD incumbents Antonio Aguilar, Leslie Beggs and Darin Gharat won re-election by wider margins.
School bonds: The Waterford Unified School District got 54.97% approval for a bond measure for campus upgrades, barely missing the 55% threshold under state law. Two votes out of the 3,786 cast would have put it over the top. Bond measures passed in the Salida Union, Stanislaus Union and Newman-Crows Landing Unified districts.
Patterson council: Shivaugn Alves won the District A seat with 1,156 votes, or 53.3%. She had trailed Shawun Ruth Anderson in the initial count on election night.
President: Joe Biden was the choice of 49.24% of the county’s voters to 48.45% for Trump. The latter had led by about 5% on election night. The latest national tally put Biden at about 51% to 47% for Trump. The president has still not conceded despite losing a series of legal challenges.
