Tie likely in Parlier school board race; other close Fresno County races decided by tiny margins

Several close races in Fresno County appear to have been decided Wednesday as the final 1,000 votes were tallied. One race for a Parlier Unified School District Board of Trustees seat appears to have ended in a tie, while other results remained the same as in previous updates.

The final election numbers remain unofficial until the Fresno County Clerk certifies the election on Dec. 6.

Parlier Unified School District

In Parlier, Juan David “J.D.” Garcia and Eric Molina are tied at 534 votes each. They are vying for a vacant seat on the Parlier Unified School District Board of Trustees. The other open seat will go to teacher Carlos Lopez, who finished first with 562 votes.

Parlier Unified does not appear to have a specific clause in its board policies on what happens in the event of a tie. State education code indicates that Fresno County Superintendent Jim Yovino would supervise either a runoff election or call for a winner-by-lot, meaning the two candidates would meet for a coin toss or something similar.

Incumbent Rick Maldonado finished last in the seven-person race with 428 votes. The district is currently under investigation by the Fresno County District Attorney’s office for alleged financial misconduct.

Parlier Measure Q

A parcel tax designed to help the ailing Parlier Police Department stay afloat appears to have passed, as just over 67 percent of residents voted yes. It required a two-thirds majority. The count was 1,518 yes votes to 744 no votes. If these numbers hold up, the measure will have passed by just 10 votes.

The special tax would collect $120 from each single-family residential parcel and each agricultural parcel, $95 per unit from each unit on multi-family parcels, $975 from each commercial parcel and $100 per space from each mobile-home parcel.

Selma Measure P

A bond measure for building a new police station in Selma appears to have received the mandated two-thirds majority, but it is close. In all, 3,638 people (66.73 percent) voted yes, while 1,814 (33.27) voted no. That’s a margin of just four votes.

San Joaquin City Council

In San Joaquin, incumbent Julia Hernandez appears to have defeated religion coordinator Cristina Covarrubia by 16 votes for the third open seat on the City Council. Abel G. Lua finished first with 291 votes. Amarpreet “Ruby” Dhaliwal finished second with 274 votes. Hernandez had 240, and Covarrubia had 224.

West Park School District

Incumbent Aida Garcia apparently beat Jessica Galvan-Hopkins by six votes for the second open seat on the West Park School District Board of Trustees. Edward B. Randolph, also an incumbent, received the most votes with 149 to Garcia’s 118 and Galvan-Hopkins’ 112.

This story was originally published December 1, 2016 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Tie likely in Parlier school board race; other close Fresno County races decided by tiny margins."