|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Pleasanton City Councilwoman Karla Brown has a moderate lead over Councilman Jerry Pentin so far in the five-candidate race to replace outgoing Mayor Jerry Thorne, according to early returns reported by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Office on Election Night.
“I am excited about the early results, but it’s too soon to be celebrating,” Brown told the Weekly shortly after the polls closed Tuesday night.
Though too early for any contender to declare victory — or defeat — as of Wednesday morning, Brown leads with 47.50% of the unofficial count, for a total 9,087 votes, a nearly 12% margin dividing Brown and her closest opponent, Pentin, who has 6,834 votes (35.72%) of early reported votes.
“The results are important because they show that glossy brochures, professional campaign managers and locations on Main Street do not win elections in Pleasanton,” said Brown, who has served eight years on the City Council.
Pentin, also a second-term councilman, said, “The current results aren’t what we had hoped for,” adding “but we’re patient and will monitor over the night and next few days.”
Newcomer and Amador Valley High School alumni Monith Ilavarasan has 1,778 votes for 9.29% of ballots cast so far while Druthi Ghanta, who withdrew from the campaign several months ago, has received nearly 5%, followed by 2.24% for digital marketing manager and Pleasanton native Tom Turpel.
In the race for two open City Council seats, Pleasanton school board trustee Valerie Arkin holds a lead with 23.84% among the field of seven candidates with 7,814 votes. Planning Commissioner Jack Balch stands at 7,252 votes (22.13%) for the second seat.
Close behind in third place is Planning Commissioner Nancy Allen with 20.70% (6,785 votes). Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce Board Chair Randy Brown has 11.32% of the vote at last count, with Housing Commissioner Zarina Kiziloglu at 8.56%, Chiman Lee at 7.36% and attorney Jarod Buna at 5.93%.
Arkin did not reply to request for comment at the time of publication.
Balch said, “There are still a lot of votes to count and we don’t know the final results … regardless of the results, I appreciate the positive campaigns by all for the Pleasanton City Council race.”
The numbers referenced in this story reflect ballots processed as of 38.52% voter turnout countywide, indicating there are many ballots left to tally across Alameda County — though an exact number of pending tabulation for Pleasanton, or the county overall, are not yet known.
Editor’s note: The Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Office reported that it would release its next update of election returns by 5 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 5), and then daily updates would follow each afternoon thereafter. The office indicated there are 300,000+ eligible ballots still to be tallied countywide. Follow coverage on our website.
