Gilroy
– Jaime Rosso has all but clinched his school board seat for a
second four-year term.
The current board president held a 68-vote lead Monday over
incumbent John Gurich, the next closest candidate in the race for
the third available seat.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Jaime Rosso has all but clinched his school board seat for a second four-year term.
The current board president held a 68-vote lead Monday over incumbent John Gurich, the next closest candidate in the race for the third available seat.
Two seats were already secured by the top vote-getters in the six-person race: Gilroy Unified School District principal Pat Midtgaard and parent Rhoda Bress, who took 8,029 (24.6 percent) and 6,229 (19.1 percent) of the 32,653 votes, respectively.
Rosso now holds 5,215 votes (16 percent) and Gurich has 5,147 votes (15.8 percent).
“At this time we have over 95 percent of the ballots counted, and at this point it’s a good indicator of how the final tally’s going to play out,” said Matt Moreles, media coordinator with the county registrar.
Gurich has accepted that the race is likely over.
“I’ve lost some ground, but I’m proud of myself and thankful to all those who supported me,” he said. “I think I had a great run … but I don’t think I can catch up now.”
The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ Office tallied 583,369 votes so far, which represents a 67.4 percent turnout. Another roughly 20,000 provisional ballots still must be counted.
“Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell at this time how many of those are in a specific area or for specific races,” Moreles said.
According to the registrar’s office, 32,653 votes were cast in the GUSD race. Incumbent Bob Kraemer has 4,750 (14.6 percent) and parent Robert Heisey, who ran on a platform of reform in the district and at Gilroy High School, has 3,247 votes (9.9 percent).
Another ballot tally update is expected by Friday, but it is unclear when the final numbers will come through.
“We can’t really say at this point, because what’s left right now are the provisional ballots, and those traditionally take longer to count because we have to investigate each individual ballot,” Moreles said.
The registrar must ensure each provisional ballot cast at the polls was from a voter registered in the same area.
“We expedited all our timelines, so we’re trying to be done as quickly as possible – we just don’t want to make any promises on 100 percent because there’s always things that come up,” Moreles said.
Registrar’s office employees have been working through the weekend and 12 hours per day to get all the ballots counted, he said.
Rosso was unavailable for comment Monday night.
