Incumbents in the race for Santa Clarita City Council and the William S. Hart Union High School District governing board continued to lead the polls in Thursday afternoon’s unexpected release of updated election results.
In addition, U.S. Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, who already announced victory in his race on Wednesday, furthered his lead in the race to represent the 27th Congressional District.
According to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Thursday’s additional voting results added 134,099 ballots to the total returns reported on Wednesday, which brings the total up to 1,452,192 ballots counted. The ballots counted Thursday include vote-by-mail ballots cast and returned through Election Day.
The Registrar-Recorder’s Office estimated that approximately 1 million votes remained to be counted from throughout the county.
Santa Clarita City Council
Thursday’s update tightened up the voting results from Wednesday and indicated that incumbents Bill Miranda, Laurene Weste and Marsha Mclean still held the three top spots.
Weste had moved up on the polls and took the top spot in the race for City Counci with 20.19% (21,862) of the votes. Miranda fell into second with 20.10% (21,767) of the votes, followed by McLean, in third, with 17.30% (18,731) of the votes.Â
The final results of Tuesday’s election are yet to be determined as an unknown number of ballots remained to be counted.
McLean is in third, as indicated by Thursday’s voting returns, but Denise Lite, who is in fourth in the polls and who received 15.44% (16,719) of the votes, is trailing just behind her. The Registrar-Recorder’s Office is slated to announce its next update of the preliminary election results Friday.
Selina Thomas moved up to fifth place in the polls with 8.24% (8,923) of the votes, followed by Jeffrey Malick with 8.12% (8,787) of the votes, David Barlavi with 7.10% (7,687) of the votes, Douglas Fraser with 2.41% (2,611) of the votes and Kody Amour, who dropped out of the race in September, with 1.09% (1,182) of the vote.Â
27th Congressional District
In the race to represent the 27th Congressional District between Garcia and Democratic challenger Christy Smith, Thursday’s update showed Garcia pulling ahead further from his opponent.
Garcia’s initial lead has grown from a narrow one — 51.8% to 48.2% — to a larger one as the Registrar-Recorder’s Office counted ballots. As of Thursday afternoon, Garcia had 56.38% (71,374) of the votes and Smith received 43.62% (55,223) of the votes, with an unknown number of ballots remaining to be counted.
In previous conversations with The Signal, Garcia said he was feeling confident in his possible reelection to the 27th District. He noted this year’s initial voting results on Tuesday night were more favorable than election night in 2020.
Smith’s campaign is withholding comment until the results are more certain, considering the number of ballots potentially remaining to be counted in the district.
William S. Hart Union High School District
In the race to represent Trustee Areas No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 on the governing board for the William S. Hart Union High School District, Thursday’s voting returns continue to favor incumbents Bob Jensen, Cherise Moore and Joe Messina.
Jensen continued to hold his lead with 68.73% (7,754) of the votes over Andrew Taban, who has received 31.27% (3,528) of the vote, in the race for Trustee Area No. 2. Moore was in the same position as Jensen with 59.94% (4,494) of the votes over Teresa Todd, who has received 40.06% (3,004) of the votes, to represent Trustee Area No. 3.
Moore held a lead of just more than 1,200 votes over Todd.
In the race to represent Trustee Area No. 5, Messina has received 61.46% (8,462) of the votes and challenger Rebecca Hindman has received 38.54% (5,306) of the votes.
As of Thursday’s voting returns, the three incumbents had furthered their leads from initial results, with an unknown number of ballots remaining to be counted.
Saugus Union School District
In the Saugus district, Cassandra Love and Jesus Henao are neck and neck with 50.70% (1,807) and 49.30% of the votes, respectively, to see who’ll represent Trustee Area No. 1 on the governing board.
Love held a lead of approximately 50 votes over Henao as of Thursday afternoon. Â
Anna Griese received 58.59% (3,122) of the votes while incumbent Laura Arrowsmith received 41.41% (2,207) of the votes in the race to represent Trustee Area No. 2. Arrowsmith’s name appeared on Tuesday’s ballot, but she dropped out in September because she moved out of the trustee area.
In the race to represent Trustee Area No. 5, incumbent Christopher Trunkey furthered his lead with 52.15% (2,051) of the votes against challenger Sharlene Duzick, who received 47.85% (1,882) of the votes.
Newhall School District
As of Thursday’s update, Brian Walters slightly increased his lead with 50.97% (1,318) of the votes against challenger Donna Robert, who received 49.03% (1,268) of the votes, in the race to represent Trustee Area No. 1 on the governing board.
But the race is still tight, as indicated by Thursday’s voting returns, as Walters held his lead of just 50 votes over Robert.
In the race to represent Trustee Area No. 2, Rachelle Haddoak has received 53.08% (1,859) of the votes whereas Suverna Mistry has received 46.92% (1,643) of the votes.
Castaic Union School District
Thursday’s results indicated Mayreen Burk furthered her lead slightly in the race to represent Trustee Area E over Tracy Ford. Burk held a 184-vote lead over Ford.
Burk received 62.99% (446) of the votes while Ford received 37.01% (262) of the votes, as of Thursday afternoon.
Sulphur Springs Union School and Santa Clarita Community College districts
In the Sulphur Springs Union School District and the Santa Clarita Community College district, candidates in these races ran unopposed.
Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency
In the race for one of three open seats on the SCV Water Agency’s board of directors, Thursday’s update showed Bill Cooper and Dirk Marks continued to lead in the polls to represent Division 1 and Division 2, respectively.Â
Cooper had the top spot in the race to represent Division 1 with 65.53% (10,270) votes, followed by Nicole Wilson, who received 18.60% (2,915) of the votes, and Melissa Cantu with 15.87% (2,488) of the votes.
Marks held the top spot as of Thursday afternoon with 56.97% (10,673) of the votes to represent Division 2, followed by Sage Rafferty with 29.76% (5,575) of the votes and Kathy Colley who received 13.28% (2,488) of the votes.
The race to represent Division 3 continued to be neck and neck, but with Thursday’s update showing Maria Gutzeit had furthered her lead with 51.65% (8,970) of the vote while Lynne Plambeck trailed behind her with 48.35% (8,398) of the vote, with an unknown number of ballots remaining to be counted.
