Recent results show a narrow margin of passage for county sales tax measures – Two sales tax measures passed in the latest election results, with Measure K in unincorporated Kern County gaining a narrow margin. The margin of approval for Measure S in Tehachapi has slightly improved from the earlier results.
The Kern County Elections Office stated that 55,380 ballots still need to be processed in an update issued Nov. 15. The next update will be available on Friday, November 18, at Kernvote.com.
The new numbers, like earlier unofficial results, suggest probable outcomes for some measures and races. Others are too close to call.
These are the measures
Measure K, the sales-tax measure for unincorporated Kern County was barely passed with just 50.38% of the vote at the Nov. 15 update.
Measure S, Tehachapi’s proposed sales tax measure was passed with 58.56% of the vote. This is a slight increase over earlier reports.
Officials from the city declined to comment on last week’s incident, citing a belief that it was too soon.
Measure J to limit the term of the Board of Supervisors seems to have won approval with 69.65% of yes votes.
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Measure X, a proposal by the Tehachapi Val Healthcare District to approve a new 30 year hospital lease with Adventist Health has increased its margin. It is expected to pass with 76.25% of the vote.
All measures J, K, S, and X require a majority vote in order to be passed.
Two measures of Bear Valley Community Services District require a two-thirds majority for passage, which is unlikely. Two tax increases, Measure V to pay for expenses at the entrance gate and Measure W that would fund it, were not passed by the required two-thirds majority vote in November’s report. Measure V received 46.91 percent support votes and Measure W received 43.31 percent support votes.
The board seats
It has been clear from the beginning that the Tehachapi County Water District board will be composed of two front-runners. Delbert Jones, who was running in District 3 with Nathanael Belton Harbison, received 64.32 percent. With 52.39 percent of votes in Division 5, incumbent Robert W. Schultz was ahead of Joel Peel and Ben Dewell.
Christina Scrivner, Tehachapi, maintained her lead over Jennifer Slayton, Ridgecrest, for Kern Community College District Board Trustee Area 2. Scrivner received 52.31 percent of votes as of Nov. 15, when she combined the most recent results from Kern, San Bernardino and Inyo counties.
Kern County Board of Education Trustee Area 7 Tehachapi resident Lori Cisneros received 58.78% of the vote, with Ernest Bell Jr. of Ridgecrest trailing.
Tehachapi Unified Schools District
In Trustee Areas 2, 4, 5, and 6, four new school board members will be elected. Early ballot count releases show that the tallies of candidates have varied, with some very close to others and many candidates who did not receive votes.
Only one of the four seats appears to be a certainty — W. Wayne Cooper will likely be elected to the Area 5 chair. As of Nov. 15, he had 37.19 percent of the vote, with three other candidates (all of whom had “dropped out”) sharing remaining votes.
Paul Kaminski, who is currently in Area 6, has maintained his lead. He is now 10 points ahead of J. Jeff Schulstad, with 47.69% of the vote. Angie Cortes has received 14.62 percent of votes, after she dropped out.
Cassandra Sweeney won the Area 2 seat in the school district with four more votes than Ben Dewell. Dewell was the previous leader. Cora Gutierrez is trailing.
Deborah Du-Sorenson is still leading in Area 4 with 49.93% of the vote. Dana Lee Christensen is 40 votes behind. Erika Joe Gunn, who has previously dropped out, captured 5.77 percent.
Community Services Districts
Bear Valley’s incumbent Terry Eugene Quinn won 22.87 percent and Martin Hernandez got 21.62 percent respectively. They were the leaders for the two seats. Geva Frevert and Leana Mitchell were close behind Jerry Pittenger.
Scott Wyatt’s lead in Golden Hills, where the top 2 will win, has increased to 33.71% of the vote. This compares to the 25.78 percent for John C. Buckley, and the 24.28 percent for Marilyn White. They are 51 votes apart. Connor Harris was second with 16.23 percent.
Mountain Meadows: Top three winners of open seats – Sheridan Nicholas, Nathaniel Mitchell led with Manuel W. Jaramillo (tied at 19.51%) and James Faber (tied at 19.51%).
