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Pleasanton Unified School District Board President Steve Maher appears headed for another term as trustee after securing a significant early lead in Tuesday’s general election, according to overnight returns from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Office.
“The votes could change but it looks like I’ll be headed for another four years and I’m very pleased with that,” the PUSD veteran said in a phone call with the Weekly after the polls closed that night.
Being around in a time of pandemic, Maher added, “I’m glad I’m on the board to help.”
A total 13,236 ballots (30.22%) were cast for Maher as of 10:20 p.m. Tuesday.
With three at-large seats on the ballot, retired teacher Mary Jo Carreon sat in second so far with 8,830 votes (20.16%) and Kelly Mokashi, a parent and adult member of the city’s Youth Commission, was in third place with 8,120 votes (18.54%),
Incumbent Trustee Jamie Yee was close behind for the final seat with 7,628 votes (17.42%). Newcomer Chong Wang raised the most money of all five candidates but was last with 5,899 votes (13.47%).
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Maher called this year’s campaign “very different for me because I am generally a people person and I did a lot of Zoom” instead of interacting with voters in person.
“I couldn’t be at the farmers market, I missed that immensely,” Maher said, as well as participating in live candidate forums, passing out fliers and canvassing neighborhoods.
Maher said he ran a cost effective campaign, raising a little more than $2,000 in the final days of his campaign: “It proves that you can run an election without a ton of money.”
Carreon also noted the outstanding ballot count and said she was “cautiously optimistic that the results will hold” Wednesday morning.
“I am humbled and pleased by the results so far. Lots of Pleasanton votes left to be counted so I will patiently await the results,” she told the Weekly. “I have been deeply touched by all the kind words, encouragement and love. My favorite part through this whole thing was being able to reconnect with families that I have taught and loved over the years. It means so much to me that former students and families have voted for me.”
The numbers referenced in this story reflect countywide results for 38.52% of ballots cast so far.
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.
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