GILROY
– A post Election Day voting analysis shows Roland Velasco was
the only City Council candidate to finish among the top three
vote-getters in all Gilroy precincts Nov. 4.
GILROY – A post Election Day voting analysis shows Roland Velasco was the only City Council candidate to finish among the top three vote-getters in all Gilroy precincts Nov. 4. The same breakdown reveals Mayor-elect Al Pinheiro won all but one precinct in a town that often votes vastly different from one side of the railroad tracks to the other.
In other ways, the Nov. 4 election resembles voting days of the past.
The data shows what has become a habitual trickle of voter turnout despite a campaigning season that saw candidates take in roughly $80,000 in campaign funding and a get-out-the-vote group register 500 new voters. Even after last-minute absentee ballots are figured in, voter turnout will likely fall short of 30 percent. On Election Day, only 26.8 percent of Gilroy’s 17,295 registered voters went to the polls.
“A low voter turnout is always disappointing,” Councilman-elect Paul Correa said. “I guess the only consolation is that I was still able to come out on top in some of those low turnout precincts.”
Correa was one of three candidates – mayoral hopeful Lupe Arellano and incumbent Councilman Peter Arellano were the others – who belonged to the get-out-the-vote group known as Gilroy First! Gilroy First! members have contended that an election with just more than a quarter of eligible voters participating does not truly represent the will of the electorate.
There’s no telling how a larger voter turnout would have changed results Nov. 4. But given the neck-and-neck battle for third place between Dion Bracco and Correa, a Bracco victory or a more comfortable Correa win would have been likely.
Correa took the third and final vacant City Council seat by just 70 votes even though Bracco led in the polls much of the night.
The race was so close that Correa’s victory remained on shaky ground for three days after the election, before more than 450 last minute absentee ballots were counted. Correa’s lead ended up slipping only by four votes.
Precinct-by-precinct data shows Correa was among the top three vote-getters in eight precincts to Bracco’s six. Correa won one precinct outright, Bracco did not.
“This shows that door to door campaigning can win an election,” Correa said, referring to his efforts in the conservative-leaning precinct west of Santa Teresa Boulevard and east of Calle Del Rey.
“I saturated that area,” Correa said. “I knew I had to do well there if I wanted to do well overall.”
He did. Correa took 158 votes, better than Velasco’s 148 and second-place finisher Russ Valiquette’s 135. Bracco took fourth place there with 126 votes.
Since 1991, a Gilroy City Council election has never garnered more than 40.2 percent voter turnout. In 2001, Gilroy’s voter apathy hit a 10-year low when only 27.4 percent of registered voters cast ballots.
Based on election night totals from the Santa Clara County registrar’s office, all 16 voting precincts in Gilroy wanted to see Velasco take one of three open Council seats. Velasco, an incumbent, was re-elected with more than 19 percent of the vote, 373 votes better than his nearest competitor, Valiquette.
“By no means does this suggest I’m unbeatable. What it shows is that I have crossover support from Democrats and Republicans and between liberals and conservatives,” Velasco said. “I hope this means people see me as approachable … someone who considers all sides before making a decision.”
But Velasco’s crossover appeal may make him unbeatable in local elections. Velasco, a policy aide for county Supervisor Don Gage, is known within political circles as one of the more studious Council members and has been a swing vote at times. Velasco was the only “business-friendly” Councilman to vote in favor of making Wal-Mart do an economic impact report before moving to its proposed new location. An adamant downtown revitalization disciple, Velasco was the Council member who raised the red flag on train aficionado Rod Diridon’s railroad museum plan for downtown Gilroy, despite the popular belief that such an attraction may be catalyst of a renewed downtown.
A moderate conservative with an Hispanic surname, Velasco does not cause any negative knee-jerk reaction from liberal voters. And as a lifelong Gilroyan, the 37-year-old has support from old-time Gilroyans. Before Correa, 31, won election, Velasco was the youngest of the seven Councilmen.
After this new term expires, Velasco will have eight years City Council experience under his belt. However, a mayoral run is not something he’s ready to consider.
“I’m happy with Al Pinheiro as mayor for as long as Al Pinheiro wants to be mayor,” Velasco said.
And based on Election Day totals, each part of town – with the exception of the east side north of I.O.O.F. – feels as Velasco does. Pinheiro won all other precincts, despite nearly losing a second east side precinct south of I.O.O.F.
“I think what this shows is that Al did everything right in his campaign and Lupe did just about everything wrong,” said Councilman Bob Dillon.
Dillon, who worked on Valiquette’s Council campaign, said Arellano’s campaign had glitches from beginning to end. Arellano began her campaign answering for financial disclosure filings from past elections that were two years late. The mayoral hopeful then was criticized for paying the related $700 in fines with money raised by campaign donors.
Dillon said he believes the final straw was Arellano’s last minute remarks about her stolen and damaged campaign signs. Arellano had 35 signs stolen around town and one of them was, by all indications, intentionally driven over by a motorist just days before the election.
Arellano noted that some of her stolen signs were put up near Portuguese Hall, the site where Portuguese candidate Pinheiro would later hold his election night celebration. Arellano questioned whether the stolen signs and their proximity to the hall had any connection.
“That was snide,” Dillon said regarding those comments.
Arellano made no mistakes as far as Gilroy voters east of Monterey Street and north of I.O.O.F. are concerned. The native Gilroyan took in 93 votes comapred to Pinheiro’s 66. The precinct also produced the only third place finish for mayoral candidate Ellyn Atkins. In all other precincts, Mary Hohenbrink finished third trailed by Atkins in fourth.
Arellano could not be reached before deadline. Pinheiro is out of town and also could not be reached for comment for this story.
