Election Day Looms for Dozens of Local Races
A sign outside the County Administration Center in El Centro on Tuesday, Oct. 27, points to an early polling site for the Nov. 3, 2020, General Election. | CORISSA IBARRA PHOTO

ELECTION UPDATE: Count Picks Up Steam, But 24.5K Ballots Remain; McCabe Flips (Again); IID Div. 4 Gap Widens

Some 3,125 new ballots were processed over the past 24 hours resulting in no significant surprises, yet 24,500 mail-in and provisional ballots remain uncounted from the Nov. 3 general election, according to the latest update from the Imperial County Registrar’s Office.

After just 800 ballots were processed Thursday, Nov. 5, county election workers and staff plowed through 3,125 new ballots Friday, Nov. 6, bringing the overall vote count to 25,363 ballots processed from 84,123 eligible registered voters, for an overall turnout of 30.15 percent, the latest summary report released at 4:44 p.m. stated.

With 24,500 ballots still to be counted, final total voter turnout for the Nov. 3 election is projected to be nearly 60 percent. That number could even be higher, as additional mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day or coming in from outside counties are expected.

County officials said the next tally update will be at the end of the day, Monday, Nov. 9.

McCabe School Board Race

This could be a long November for McCabe Union Elementary School District Board of Trustee candidates Alec Austin Hendry and incumbent Michael T. McFadden, who have traded places twice for the third and final spot on the school board.

Alec Austin Hendry | COURTESY PHOTO

After McFadden pulled ahead of Hendry following Thursday’s count, Hendry was back in the saddle Friday, hanging onto a place on the board by only five votes.

Hendry garnered 565 votes, or 18.86 percent of the votes cast in the race, which so far has seen 1,435 ballots received from 3,920 voters in the El Centro-area district.

McFadden had 560 votes, or 18.69 percent.

Michael T. McFadden | COURTESY PHOTO

Incumbent Karina B. Alvarez and newcomer Dr. Edgar Aguilar are so far cemented in the top-two spots on the board. Incumbent Charles “Chip” Corfman is in last place.

Gap Widens in IID Div. 4 Contest

Javier Gonzalez

The run-off race is still close for the Division 4 seat on the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors, but community organizer Javier Gonzalez of Calexico has widened his lead from just 20 votes 24 hours ago, to nearly 100 votes, according to the Nov. 6 report.

Gonzalez is looking to unseat incumbent Erik Ortega for a position on an IID board that appears to be in the midst of a makeover. The El Centro-area Division 2 race was won handily on Nov. 3 by first-time political candidate JB Hamby, who basically crushed challenger Ryan Childers.

Erik Ortega

Division 4 candidate Gonzalez had 2,523 votes, or 50.97 percent of the votes cast. Ortega had 2,427, or 49.03 percent.

Nearly 5,200 ballots have been counted in the Calexico-area divisional race, which has some 17,670 registered voters.

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