It looks as though Ernest Rivas, the 61-year-old hospital board incumbent and registered sex offender, will lose out on his attempt to retain one of three open seats with the health care district.
After early results that included most of the mail-in ballots and some from the polls, Rivas was far behind in last place among four candidates seeking three open seats on the board.
Rivas had gained just 9.6 percent of the count with 1,109 votes.
Nazhat Parveen Sharma was in the lead with 32.6 percent and 3,783 votes. Gordon Machado had 31.8 percent with 3,690 votes. Jim West had 25.7 percent with 3,011 votes, according to the preliminary results.
Rivas, 61, is running for a second term on the board for the San Benito County Health Care District, which oversees Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital.
The others will win the seats if the results hold up. They include Machado, incumbent and owner of Rustic Turtle Embroidery; West, a challenger who works in construction material for Graniterock; and Sharma, a doctor and incumbent board member.
Police arrested Rivas in July 2009, days after a 16-year-old girl reported that he took her on a motorcycle ride in Tres Pinos and kissed her with his tongue. Rivas, first elected to the hospital board in the fall of 2008, accepted a plea deal in April 2010 on the initial molestation charge. It lowered the penalty to a misdemeanor battery count that required his registration as a sex offender because the judge ruled he had committed the crime for “sexual gratification.”
He served 90 days of home confinement and received three years of probation.
Look back for more. For the latest updates on election results, go here.
