Lee Lundrigan, Stanislaus County Clerk Recorder & Registrar of Voters, reported that the Gubernatorial General Election results were certified on Thursday in Stanislaus County, November 18, 2010.
California law requires certification of the November 3, 2010 election to be on or before November 30, 2010, which is 28-days following Election Day.
“Thank you all for your interest in the 2010 Gubernatorial General Election and your support of the men and women of the Stanislaus County Elections Office and our election officers,” said Clerk Lee Lundrigan. “We appreciate you all and give thanks to our voters.”
Even with the 33,000 ballots sent by mail and approximately 5,630 provisional ballots, 1,800 military, damaged, 7-day absentee and reconciliation ballots that remained to be reviewed and processed before the Stanislaus County’s official results were certified, the only change in standings were that Forrest White went from leading Bill Dehart by 10 votes and by the end DeHart pulled ahead of White by 3 votes.
As a mere 2 votes seperated the top vote receiving Turlock City Council Candidate Bill DeHart from Candidate Forrest White, it was a close race all the way from 1st place (DeHart) to 4th place (David Fransen) with only a 521 voting gap. Timm LaVelle lost his chance to be on the City Council by only 196 votes as he finished very close behind White.
The certified final voting results have been posted on www.stanvote.com including the updated tally for Turlock City Council as shown here:
Bill DeHart (4,555/ 17.94%), Forrest White (4,552/ 17.93%), Timm LaVelle (4,356/ 17.16%), David Fransen (4,034/ 15.89%), Jeremy Rocha (3,419/ 13.46%), Shawn Barlow (2,375/ 9.35%), and Patrick Noda (1,974/ 7.77%). Total votes equaled 25,265 with 127 write-in votes and 7,500 under votes.
Turlock Mayor Lazar was reelected with 12,673 votes as he ran unopposed. There were 710 write-in votes and 3,082 under votes.A statement by Mayor Lazar was not provided, or one was not provided for him, after Lazar demanded TurlockCityNews.com “send any future communications in care of the City Manager or City Attorney.”
The communication demand made by the Mayor came after TurlockCityNews.com questioned whether a Brown Act Violation was committed while deciding when or how to go forward with the City Manager Performance Evaluation after a Turlock Journal article said that Mayor Lazar “had spoken with Jackson prior to the meeting and learned that she didn’t feel well, and also that she believed the newly elected council should be tasked with reviewing Wasden” while Councilwoman Amy Bublak stated in an email to TurlockCityNews.com that Lazar had also discussed the matter with her before the meeting saying “I did speak with the mayor regarding what options were on the table pertaining to the evaluation of Mr. Wasden. I will tell you I prefaced my comments with, ‘not to violate the Brown Act…"
Mayor Lazar did make a statement back in August of 2010 after he found out that he was running for reelection unopposed and said “I am grateful to the citizens of Turlock for allowing me the opportunity to represent them as their Mayor, and will continue to do my utmost best to serve in the best interests of all Turlockers."
Both Turlock City Council Elects, DeHart and White, believe some of their first issues will be the budget and some how moving forward as a Council without contention between individual members. Each Council Elect referenced how the current Council has not got along in their campaigns and continue to reference that as a focal point while also pointing out that’s how the Turlock election season was ran, positively. So now that the election results are final, both wanted to express similar gratitude for their campaign support.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who voted for me,” said Council Elect Bill DeHart. “The challenges which your new City Council faces, will require the very best efforts we as council members can offer. I am up to that task.”
“I want to thank all the people who did support me,” said Council Elect Forrest White. “Hopefully I can live up to everything that they expect of me.”
DeHart and White are both ready to start their civic duties as a Turlock City Councilman.
DeHart said “I look forward to working with Mayor Lazar and Council Members Bublak, Jackson and White, and our entire City staff, to address the concerns of the people of Turlock.”
“Thanks for the support of all who participated in this election process and for the special trust and confidence you have vested in me. I look forward to serving you!”
White said “I’m really looking forward to getting started and getting involved.”As for Turlock’s “clean” election campaign season, both didn’t know what to expect as they both had not ran for public office before. Both referenced the oddly quiet and clean election season here in Turlock, something that most places in this recent national trend of politics don’t get to benefit from.
“Our neighbors here in Turlock witnessed a positive campaign and one where issues and their solutions were the focus,” stated DeHart.
White revealed how he had planned to stay postivie by saying “I went into it with the idea of this is what I was going to do, if other people wanted to go in different directions then fine but this is what I was going to do; walk a lot and grass roots stuff like that.”
Council Candidate David Fransen had called the two leading Council Candidates after the first night of results congratulating them, understanding that the percentages probably would not change enough to change the top two vote receiving candidates.
“I’ve spoken to the two and I think we’re going to move forward, and it’s going to be a good time for Turlock,” stated Fransen. “I always been involved in my hometown and will continue to do so.”
“I’m most proud of Turlock and this year’s Council Candidates for the clean campaigning. It makes it that much easier to work with each other after the election is over, win or lose.”
5th place Council Candidate Jeremy Rocha submitted a letter to the editor at the Turlock Journal congratulating the newly elected Councilmen and is looking at ways to get involved without holding an elected office.
Now that the campaign season is over, both DeHart and White reflected back on the experience.
“My campaign for City Council has been a memorable experience for me,” said DeHart. “I was encouraged by the professionalism of my fellow candidates and the collegiality we experienced together.”
“I’ve never ran for office before, so everything was pretty much a new experience,” said White. “I really didn’t know what to expect.”
“Of all the things that I wasn’t prepared for, was the feeling of seeing my name on an election ballot and on the tv as they report the results. It was an honor.”
Turlock City Council Elects Bill DeHart and Forrest White will replace outgoing Councilmen Ted Howze and Kurt Spycher on December 14, 2010 at 7pm at the regularly scheduled Turlock City Council Meeting at City Hall.