Final election results still hold surprises for winners, losers and voters

In a season of election surprises, yet another emerged in Tulare as challenger Greg Nunley suddenly came from behind to defeat three-term incumbent Craig Vejvoda in the race for Tulare City Council District 5, and in Fresno County a school board race apparently has been decided by only three votes.

Nunley won by 16 votes, according to elections results certified by the Tulare County elections division.

Vejvoda held the lead on election night and retained it in periodic updates until late Monday when final, certified results were released showing that Nunley had moved ahead.

Vejvoda called the development “unusual and unexpected.” He said he would decide by Friday whether to seek a recount.

Four people sought election to the seat. Nunley received 39.79 percent of the vote, Vejvoda 39.44 percent, Suzanna “Sam” Aguilera-Marrero 12.78 percent and Margee Fallert 7.48 percent.

Nunley, a real estate developer, was scheduled to be sworn in Tuesday night at the regular Tulare council meeting.

In the race for Tulare County supervisor for District 1, Kuyler Crocker of Strathmore defeated Dennis Smith of Exeter by 295 votes.

Smith had been ahead on election night, but Crocker moved ahead as more ballots were tallied in the days after the election.

In Kings County, Measure K, a proposed quarter-cent sales tax for public safety, was rejected. It needed a two-thirds yes vote to pass but received 64.97 percent.

In Hanford City Council Area C, Martin Devine defeated incumbent Gary Pannett, 46.4 percent to 39.1 percent in a three-person race.

In Hanford City Council Area B, Sue Sorensen won with 39.2 percent of the vote in a four-person race.

Fresno County

One extremely close race for a Parlier Unified School Board seat was decided Tuesday, as Juan David Garza edged out Eric Molina by just three votes. The two were tied as of Dec. 1.

In the final tally of the Fresno mayor’s race, Fresno City Councilman Lee Brand got 71,776 votes to Fresno County Supervisor Henry Perea’s 68,053. This was the closest Fresno mayoral election since the city moved to a strong mayor system in 1996.

Replacing Brand on the Fresno City Council will be Garry Bredefeld, who beat Jeremy Pearce by a final count of 18,721 to 9,935.

Measure Q, a parcel tax for public safety in Parlier, passed by a narrow margin of seven votes. The same is true for a public safety tax in Selma, which passed by two votes.

In San Joaquin, Julia Hernandez beat Cristina Covarrubia by 17 votes for a spot on the city council.

Incumbent Aida Garcia defeated Jessica Galvan-Hopkins by six votes for a seat on the West Park School District Board of Trustees.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Final election results still hold surprises for winners, losers and voters."