The San Benito County Elections Office plans to release updated
results at 4 p.m. today, according to head elections official Joe
Paul Gonzalez. The 3,300 or so remaining ballots still could affect
the outcome of several races in San Benito County.
The San Benito County Elections Office plans to release updated results at 4 p.m. today, according to head elections official Joe Paul Gonzalez.
Elections workers are busy processing the 2,800 mail-in ballots that remained after Tuesday night’s counting. There were another 500 or so provisional ballots to count after Election Day, but those will take longer due to all the manual work and a “little bit of investigation” needed by election workers to find problems with the ballots, Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said the office will release an update of results, with or without completion of the mail-in ballots, at 4 p.m.
Those remaining ballots still could affect the outcome of several races in San Benito County. Some of those closer races include the following:
In the race for District 2 Hollister City Council, newcomer Sergio Montanez held a 14-vote lead over former Councilman and current Marshal Robert Scattini. Montanez had 282 to Scattini’s 268 votes, or 36.5 percent to 34.7 percent, according to unofficial results.
In the race for District 4 county supervisor, Jerry Muenzer held a 104-vote lead over fellow businessman Phil Fortino. It was 1,733 to 1,629, or an advantage of 51.4 percent to 48.3 percent, according to results.
In the race for three seats on the Aromas Water District, just four votes separated second through fourth place. Bonnie Mahler looks safe, but the remaining two seats are open for Sylvia Borchard, with 171 votes, Stuart Cardott, with 170 votes, and Marcus Dutra, with 167 votes, according to the figures.
In the Hollister School District race, David Redman trailed Elsa Rodriguez 2,240 to 2,140, or 14.4 percent to 13.7 percent for the third and final seat. Michal Query and Joe Navarro appear headed toward gaining the other two spots.
In the San Benito High School District race, for three seats, Steve De Lay trailed Mary Encinias by 119 votes, 3,599 to 3,480, or 18.4 percent to 17.8 percent, according to the results.
