Final area Election Day results still unknown

Robert Summa, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
·5 min read

Nov. 10—On Wednesday, the day after Election Day, results for multiple key local races and measures were still not fully known as vote counting continued in both Yuba and Sutter counties.

While most statewide races and measures were all but decided on Tuesday night, there are still area city council and school board races left to be decided. For Sutter County, the success of Measure A, a proposed one cent sales tax increase, also was still up in the air.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Sutter County had not released updated results. The most recent update of vote tallies was at 10:22 p.m. on Tuesday night.

"We have been concentrating on processing ballots for our next run (this Friday) which will contain over 8,000 ballots countywide," Donna Johnston, Sutter County's clerk-recorder/registrar of voters, said Wednesday. "By close of business tomorrow we will have the total for unprocessed ballots. These are largely vote by mail. We have 30 days after the election to finish processing, tallying and auditing the election prior to certification."

According to Sutter County's early results, Yuba City City Council incumbents such as Mayor Dave Shaw and Councilmember Marc Boomgaarden held comfortable leads in their races.

However, current Councilmember Grace Espindola, who was leading when results first came out Tuesday, was one vote behind her challenger, Mike Pasquale. While Shaw was reluctant Wednesday to declare outright victory over his opponent, Brendon Messina, he said Tuesday's vote was not about him, but about the fundamental American right to vote.

"Yesterday, the 8th, was all about every American citizen having their right to exercise their right to vote," Shaw said. "While things right now are looking good for me, I'm very honored to be considered by the people of my district. But yesterday was really about every American citizen's right to vote."

In Yuba County, the incumbents on the Marysville City Council appear to be headed toward another term. Both Bruce Buttacavoli and Brad Hudson were leading for two council seats against the third challenger, Stephanie McKenzie.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Yuba County elections site reflected results from 11:20 p.m. on Tuesday. As of press time Wednesday, Yuba County Clerk Donna Hillegass did not answer questions related to the election when asked for comment.

The following are the early voting results from both counties for significant contested races and measures. Neither tally is a final count and the eventual winners of each race could change.

Sutter County — Yuba City City Council District 1 (one seat): Dave Shaw, 803 votes, 62.44%; and Brendon Messina, 483 votes, 37.56% — Yuba City City Council District 2 (one seat): Marc Boomgaarden, 1,177 votes, 49.77%; Chuck Smith, 686 votes, 29.01%; and Sukh Sidhu, 502 votes, 21.23% — Yuba City City Council District 3 (one seat): Mike Pasqual, 422 votes, 50.06%; and Grace Espindola, 421 votes, 49.94% — Live Oak City Council (three seats): Bob Woten, 343 votes, 16.59%; Ashley Hernandez, 342 votes, 16.54%; Jeramy Chapdelaine, 321 votes, 15.52%; J.R. Thiara, 308 votes, 14.89%; Cruz Mora, 268 votes, 12.96%; Aleks Tica, 248 votes, 11.99%; and Noel Grove, 238 votes, 11.51% — Sutter County Board of Education Trustee Area 4 (one seat): Harjit Singh, 1,106 votes, 51.18%; and Jim Richmond, 1,055 votes, 48.82% — Sutter Union High School Board (three seats): Larry Munger, 893 votes, 33.07%; Allen Jaynes, 631 votes, 23.37%; Jill Wilhelm, 593 votes, 21.96%; and Carl Pratt, 583 votes, 21.59% — Yuba City Unified School District Board Trustee Area 1 (one seat): Londa Lamb, 1,107 votes, 62.90%; and Sarb Takhar, 653 votes, 37.10% — Yuba City Unified School District Board Trustee Area 5 (one seat): Shari Tucker, 333 votes, 50.30%; and Greg Quilty, 329 votes, 49.70% — Yuba City Unified School District Board Trustee Area 2 (one seat): Kjerstin Ciociola, 757 votes, 57.09%; and Linda Merklin, 569 votes, 42.91% — Yuba City Unified School District Board Trustee Area 4 (one seat): Harjot Kaur, 594 votes, 52.61%; and Zac Repka, 535 votes, 47.39% — Yuba Community College District Trustee Area 3 (one seat): Eric Pomeroy, 2,772 votes, 57.70%; and Rita Andrews, 2,032 votes, 42.30% — Sutter County Board of Education Trustee Area 3 (one seat): Kash Gill, 2,103 votes, 67.06%; and Brandon Moon, 1,033 votes, 32.94% — Sutter County Essential Services Measure Measure A: No, 5,948 votes, 50.47%; and yes, 5,838 votes, 49.53%

Yuba County — Marysville City Council (two seats): Bruce Buttacavoli, 617 votes, 35.77%; Brad Hudson, 565 votes, 32.75%; and Stephanie McKenzie, 543 votes, 31.48% — North Yuba Water District Division 4 (one seat): Marie "Marieke" Furnee, 158 votes, 78.22%; and Gary Hawthorne, 44 votes, 21.78% — North Yuba Water District Division 5 (one seat): Ann Plumb, 59 votes, 47.20%; Ginger L. Hughes, 41 votes, 32.80%; and Sarah K. Napierski, 25 votes, 20.00% — North Yuba Water District Division 1 (short term and one seat) shared with Butte County: Douglas J Neilson, 33 votes, 50.77%; Alton Wright, 23 votes, 35.38%; and Renee Wood, 9 votes, 13.85% — North Yuba Water District Division 2 (short term and one seat): Steven C Ronneberg, 61 votes, 55.96%; and Chris S Cross, 48 votes, 44.04% — Marysville Joint Unified School District Trustee Area 4 (one seat) shared with Butte County: Seth Stemen, 1,294 votes, 52.28%; and Brett Butler, 1,181 votes, 47.72% — Wheatland City Council (two seats): Robert Coe, 249 votes, 35.27%; Angela Teter, 242 votes, 34.28%; and James "Jay" Pendergraph, 215 votes, 30.45% — Measure P: Bonds yes, 575 votes, 51.57%; and bonds no, 540 votes, 48.43% — Measure Q: Bonds no, 365 votes, 50.48%; and bonds yes, 358 votes, 49.52% — Measure R: Bonds yes, 576 votes, 51.47%; and bonds no, 543, 48.53%