As San Joaquin County continued counting ballots from the June 2 primary election, runoff elections appeared likely in several Stockton City Council races as leading candidates remained below the majority needed to win outright.
As of Monday, the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters had counted 135,763 ballots, representing a voter turnout of 33.1% among the county’s 410,058 registered voters.
The latest results from the registrar of voters showed incumbent Michele Padilla remained the frontrunner in Stockton City Council District 1 but stayed below the majority threshold required to avoid a November runoff.
Padilla received 4,743 votes, or 49.24%, followed by Tamica Small with 2,650 votes, or 27.51%. Annette Sanchez received 1,093 votes, or 11.35%, Lan Nguyen received 919 votes, or 9.54%, and Shelly Hollis received 228 votes, or 2.37%.
Padilla led with 53.47% of the vote in the initial June 2 update but fell below 50% as additional ballots were counted. She received 48.8% of the vote in the registrar’s June 5 update.
Under Stockton election rules, a candidate must receive a majority of votes cast to win outright. If no candidate reaches that mark, the top two finishers advance to the November general election.
In Stockton City Council District 3, incumbent Michael Blower strengthened his position while remaining just short of an outright victory. Blower received 4,127 votes, or 48.42%, compared with 3,071 votes, or 36.03%, for Jessica Toccoli.
Joey Veltri received 852 votes, or 10%, while Stefanie Alfaro received 473 votes, or 5.55%.
Blower’s share of the vote has steadily increased since June 2, when he received 45.17%. He rose to 47.63% in the June 5 update before reaching 48.42% in the latest count. Toccoli’s share has declined from 39.87% on June 2 to 37.45% on June 5 and 36.03% in the latest results.
In Stockton City Council District 5, Brando Villapudua maintained his lead but continued to see his share of the vote decline as more ballots were processed. Villapudua received 1,126 votes, or 33.83%, while Desiree Lynch received 1,015 votes, or 30.5%.
Mary Elizabeth received 552 votes, or 16.59%, followed by Max Beas with 433 votes, or 13.01%, Ruben Harper with 182 votes, or 5.47%, and Sam Carpenter with 20 votes, or 0.6%.
Villapudua led with 37.58% of the vote on June 2 and 34.36% in the June 5 update before dropping to 33.83% in the latest count. Lynch increased her share from 28.39% on June 2 to 30.46% on June 5 and 30.5% in the latest results.
In countywide races, incumbent Paul Canepa appeared headed for reelection in San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors District 2, leading Lauren Cardinalli with 14,558 votes, or 68.12%, to 6,813 votes, or 31.88%.
In San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors District 4, Steve Ding led Travis Castle with 17,313 votes, or 57.54%, to 12,776 votes, or 42.46%.
In the race for assessor-recorder-county clerk, incumbent Steve Bestolarides led Zachary Avelar with 76,021 votes, or 67.18%, to 37,144 votes, or 32.82%.
In California State Assembly District 9, Democrat Matthew Adams led with 17,533 votes, or 28.7%, followed by Republican incumbent Heath Flora with 16,360 votes, or 26.78%, Republican Jim Shoemaker with 15,294 votes, or 25.04%, Democrat Michael Perez with 5,765 votes, or 9.44%, Republican Brandon Owen with 4,141 votes, or 6.78%, and Republican Tami Nobriga with 1,997 votes, or 3.27%.
In California State Assembly District 13, Democrat Rhodesia Ransom led with 39,066 votes, or 58.23%, ahead of Republican Tom Patti with 23,726 votes, or 35.36%, Republican Ali Jafri with 2,769 votes, or 4.13%, and Eliza Dy, with 1,531 votes, or 2.28%.
In the 9th Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Josh Harder led with 52,550 votes, or 57.47%, followed by Republican John McBride with 24,350 votes, or 26.63%, Republican Khalid Jeffrey Jafri with 6,642 votes, or 7.26%, Republican Martin Veprauskas with 6,484 votes, or 7.09%, and Republican Parminder Singh with 1,419 votes, or 1.55%.
In the 13th Congressional District, Democrat Adam Gray led with 6,173 votes, or 46.11%, followed by Republican Kevin Lincoln with 3,256 votes, or 24.32%, Democrat Daniel Garibay Rodriguez with 2,661 votes, or 19.87%, and Republican Vin Kruttiventi with 1,299 votes, or 9.7%.
The San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters is expected to release the next election results update at 7 p.m. Wednesday as ballot processing continues. Updated results are available on the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters website.
San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Olivia Hale said the goal is to certify the election by June 25, the earliest date allowed under state law.
Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Runoffs likely in Stockton City Council races as vote counting continues
Reporting by Hannah Workman, The Stockton Record / The Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Hannah Workman, The Stockton Record | USA TODAY Network
