5 days Ago
Two weeks out from Election Day and some local races in Orange County have candidates just several dozen votes or even fewer apart as the OC Registrar of Voters continues ballot counting. Other races might not be as close, but with an estimated 51,500 ballots still to tally in the county as of Monday evening, there is still the potential for change in who takes the helm of cities and school boards across the county. Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, CA on Tuesday, Nov.
12, 2024. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG) Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, CA on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024.
(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG) Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, CA on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG) Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, CA on Tuesday, Nov.
12, 2024. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG) Workers process ballots at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, CA on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024.
(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG) Here’s a breakdown of some of the closest races in the county: Jeff Pettis: 4,296 votes (50.42%) Jeffrey Harlan: 4,224 votes (49.58%) Harlan, an attorney, is the incumbent.
He was first elected to the post in 2020. Pettis is a veterans health administrator, serving as a deputy chief nurse of mental health. Kyle Chang: 1,921 votes (44.
02%) Mark H. Plager: 1,891 votes (43.33%) Chang is a public health statistician.
Plager is a small business owner. The two of them have pulled away from a third candidate in the race. Jamie Needham: 2,059 votes (50.
99%) Candi Kern: 1,979 votes (49.01%) Kern has been a trustee for the Cypress School District for 12 years. Needham is a parent and a teacher with K-6 experience.
Jamie Valencia: 3,348 votes (35.83%) Vivian “Kitty” Jaramillo: 3,329 votes (35.63%) The lead in this race has changed multiple times since the close of polls.
These two candidates have distanced themselves from two others in the race. Jaramillo is a former city employee. Valencia is a registered nurse.
Ashley Ramirez: 10,103 votes (27.80%) Huy Tran: 9,886 votes (27.21%) Steven Schultz, the incumbent, comfortably sits in the lead for the first of two seats at stake.
Ramirez and Tran are battling for the second open seat on the school board. Ramirez is associate director of recruitment & admissions at UC Irvine. Tran is an assistant principal at Santiago High School in Garden Grove Unified.
Brian Burley: 4,286 (50.69%) Cindy Barrios: 4,170 (49.31%) Burley is a business owner.
Barrios is a parent and former intelligence analyst. Melinda Liu: 5,772 votes (32.34%) John Park: 5,677 votes (31.
81%) Liu and Park have pulled away from three other candidates in the race to represent District 1 for a two-year term through 2026. Irvine switched from at-large to district council elections this year, prompting this unique two-year term to help get the races staggered going forward. Liu is a city finance commissioner and an attorney focused on estate planning and trusts.
Park owns an advertising agency based in Irvine and is a city transportation commissioner. Sheri Morgan: 5,636 (23.25%) Howard Hills: 5,546 (22.
87%) Jan Vickers: 5,358 (22.10%) Voters are selecting two out of five candidates. Morgan and Hills maintain their leads, but Vickers, the only incumbent in the race, is not far behind.
Two others trail. Morgan is a parent and business owner. Hills is a retired attorney.
Vickers is seeking her sixth consecutive term. Brenda Lebsack: 6,085 (50.69%) Rigo Rodriguez: 5,920 (49.
31%) Lebsack is a special education teacher. Rodriguez, the incumbent, was first elected to the board in 2016. He is an associate professor at Cal State Long Beach in the Department of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies.
John H. Woods: 404 votes (25.20%) Graham Hoad: 328 votes (20.
46%) David E. Evans: 325 votes (20.27%) John Dentzer: 282 votes (17.
59%) Peter Amundson: 264 votes (16.47%) The Sunset Beach Sanitary District serves Sunset Beach in unincorporated Orange County and the Surfside Colony of Seal Beach. Voters were tasked with selecting four sanitary district directors from five candidates and the vote margins have been tight from the beginning.
Incumbents Woods, Hoad and Evans appear to have retained their seats. Dentzer and Amundson are in a close race for the final seat. Shivinder Singh: 12,555 votes (15.
74%) Jess Battaglia: 12,541 votes (15.72%) Yorba Linder voters have unofficially re-elected Tara Campbell and Peggy Huang given their totals, but Battaglia and Singh are in a close race for the third open seat, separated by 14 votes. The gap closed quickly in the last several days of counting with Singh taking the lead Monday night.
Battaglia is a sales director. Singh is a city planning commissioner. The Registrar of Voters will continue to update ballot tallies at 5 p.
m. each evening until counting is complete. Related Articles.
