With a population of 1,650, San Juan Bautista had San Benito
County’s highest voter turnout in Tuesday’s election. More than
1,100 voters made it to the polls and elected incumbent City
Councilmember Priscilla Hill to another four-year term along with
challengers Arturo Medina and Chuck Geiger.
With a population of 1,650, San Juan Bautista had San Benito County’s highest voter turnout in Tuesday’s election. More than 1,100 voters made it to the polls and elected incumbent City Councilmember Priscilla Hill to another four-year term along with challengers Arturo Medina and Chuck Geiger.
With five people challenging for three seats, San Juan voters made it clear that they wanted change and voted incumbent Councilmember John Hopper out of office.
When absentee ballots were tallied early in the evening, Hill was in the lead with 31.6 percent of the votes with Medina close behind at 26.4. But by the time the final votes were counted, Medina had the lead with 28.5 percent and Hill had dropped to 27.9 percent.
Geiger picked up 20.9 percent of the vote while Hopper received 11.6 percent. Challenger Jim Pereyra got 11.1 percent.
Medina commented how hard his opponent, Geiger, worked to get elected.
“Chuck was putting signs out this morning,” he said, joking that the truck Geiger was driving looked like it needed a permit because of the number of signs that were attached to it.
“You should see this thing. It could barely go under the (Washington Street) bridge,” Medina said.
Throughout the election, Hill, San Juan’s mayor, had many visitors stopping by wishing her good luck and then ultimately congratulating her.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” she said. “We had a ball.”
Hill invited challengers to join her at her home for food and refreshments while waiting for the results.
“There’s plenty of food here,” she said, encouraging her guests to help themselves.
On hand to show support and give congratulations were City Manager Larry Cain and San Benito County Supervisor Ruth Kesler.
“Now they’ve got a good team in there (San Juan),” Kesler said.
Hill agreed and said she was looking forward to the next four years.
“Change is always good. But I’m not going to change for anybody,” she laughed.
Geiger was seemingly in shock upon hearing the results
“I got how many votes?” he said.
Afterward, Geiger smiled and said it was an exciting night. “I’m real happy and I promise to do a good job,” he said.
Both Medina and Geiger thanked the people of San Juan for their vote of confidence.
“That’s what it was – a vote of confidence,” Medina said.
