Javier Lopez is leading Gary Condit by 237 votes in the Ceres mayor’s race but additional mail-in ballots will continue to be counted throughout the week.

In the Ceres City Council District 3 race, Councilman Bret Silveira appears to have been defeated in his re-election bid. Cerina Otero, a member of the Ceres Planning Commission, collected 1,635 votes (56.52 percent) to Silveira’s 1,258 (43.48 percent).

District 4 Councilman Daniel Martinez was also unopposed on the ballot and collected 1,561 votes. His wife, City Treasurer Kayla Martinez was unopposed and re-elected to another four-year term with 8,061 votes.

In unofficial results last updated on Tuesday, Lopez received 4,195 votes (43.28 percent) to Gary M. Condit’s 3,958 votes (40.83 percent). Trailing in last place is Ceres City Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra with 1,540 votes (15.89 percent).

State law forbids counties from certifying results until 30 days after the election.

“It looks like we won but I don’t want to celebrate yet,” said Lopez. “I’m going to wait until the results are final. I want to be respectful to everyone.”

Lopez held a watch party with 40 supporters at the Republican Party of Stanislaus County’s Hatch Road office next to Mountain Mike’s Pizza, on Election eve. Lopez arrived at his headquarters at 4 p.m. and didn’t leave the “battle station” until 2 a.m. 

“Voters came in, had some tacos and we talked,” said Lopez.

Initially Condit held a 60-vote lead over Lopez in the Ceres mayor’s race with all precincts counted but the direction of the election changed as the mail ballots continued to be counted.

“As the night progressed, I started feeling more comfortable after seeing the updated results,” commented Lopez.

Condit said the outcome of the race may not be known for weeks with approximately 60,000 ballots that remain uncounted countywide.

“A hundred seventy-one votes is a close margin,” said Condit. “We’re just gonna wait and see how the ballots come in. I’m just playing the waiting game. It’s a close race.”

Condit accused the mayor of running a dirty and negative campaign and failing to outline any achievements or vision for the future.

“For an incumbent to have this close of a race I think speaks to the fact that people want change. The mayor ran a heavy smear campaign on me and spread misinformation if you look at the mail he sent out.”

The elections office reported 554 under votes, which means 554 voters chose not to mark the ballot in the mayor’s race. There were 11 over votes, meaning they voted for two candidates for mayor and they were tossed out. Twenty-four rejected write-in votes were cast.

Voter turnout in the mayor’s race was 36.47 percent. Specifically, out of 24,001 registered voters in the city of Ceres, 8,754 ballots were cast.

Despite that he cannot declare victory he said the vote “shows people are voting for who best represents them. Them having confidence in me for another four years is a great responsibility. I don’t want to let anybody down.”

Lopez started campaigning for his re-election bid during the springtime. He raised a totaled of $47,200.

“I’ve been door-knocking since last March,” said Lopez, who raised just $3,000 during his first successful bid for election which coincided with the coronavirus pandemic.

Lopez is optimistic about the future of Ceres.

“My goal is to continue the growth of the city the next four years. We have a lot of potential. It’s a team effort. The mayor doesn’t run the entire city alone. It takes the whole council.”

Hughson race

In the city of Hughson, it appears that Alan McFadon and Sam T. Rush have won two open City Council seats in a five-way race. In unofficial results, McFadon received 867 votes (28.2 percent) and Rush received 702 votes (22.83 percent). Susana Vasquez has received 690 votes (22.44 percent), Billy Gonzales collected 489 votes (15.9 percent) and Abel Moran came in last place with 327votes (10.63 percent).

Statewide propositions

Voters in California voted to increase their taxes with the support of Proposition 2 which authorizes the state to borrow $8.5 billion for K-12 schools and $1.5 billion for community colleges for construction and modernization.

Voters also approve Prop. 4, a bond issue would allow the state to borrow $3.8 billion for drinking water and groundwater programs, $1.5 billion for wildfire and forest programs and $1.2 billion for sea level rise. In part, the money would offset some budget cuts.

Also approved were:

Prop. 3 which will remove outdated language from Proposition 8, passed by voters in 2008, that characterizes marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Prop. 34 – Require certain providers to use prescription drug revenue for patients. Sponsored by the trade group for California’s landlords, this measure is squarely aimed at knee-capping the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has been active in funding ballot measures.

Prop. 35 – This initiative is sponsored by California’s health care industry to raise more money for Medi-Cal and block lawmakers from using the cash to avoid cuts to other programs. The tax is set to expire in 2026.

Prop. 36 – This measure — supported by Republicans and law enforcement but opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and most Democrats — would partly roll back Proposition 47, approved by voters in 2014, that turned some felonies into misdemeanors. The measure is in response to an increase in retail theft since Prop. 47 was passed in 2014.

Voters rejected Prop 5 – A constitutional amendment that would have made it easier for local governments to borrow money for affordable housing and some other public infrastructure projects by lowering the voter approval requirement from two-thirds to 55%.

Californians also were against Prop. 6 as a constitutional amendment would limit forced labor in state prisons.

Also defeated was Prop 32 to raise the overall minimum wage from $16 an hour and adjust it for inflation.

Prop 33, the government rent control measure was also defeated.