The City of Los Banos has been given the green light by county leaders to move forward with filling its vacant city council seat by holding a special election in four months.
The Merced County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved the Los Banos special election to happen on Aug. 26, in order to fill a vacant seat on the five-member city council.
The August all-mail ballot election is necessary in order to fill the Los Banos District 1 City Council seat which was vacated by Councilmember Kenneth Lambert, who resigned in January.
Merced County Registrar of Voters Melvin Levey said mail ballots will be sent to Los Banos District 1 voters 29 days before the election. District 1 covers the northern part of Los Banos, and has around 5,400 registered voters.
The candidate filing period begins May 5 and closes May 30. Levey said the county’s mobile services trailer will be in Los Banos on May 7-8 and May 28-29 for candidates to file. Candidates can also file at the Registrar of Voters office inside the County Administration Building in Merced.
Levey said this will be the first time the mobile services trailer will be used to help candidates file for office. Levey said his office is trying find more ways to make the process more accessible.
“We’re super excited about being able to do this,” Levey said. “I am fully expecting it will be a nice service for folks out there.”
Although the final cost for the special election is still to be determined, the county estimates it will be around $55,000, depending on the final number of ballots and candidates who run. Levey said the county will ultimately bill Los Banos for the cost of the election.
There will not be an actual vote center on site in Los Banos during the election. Levey said ballots can be mailed or dropped off at Los Banos City Hall. An additional drop box location will be set up at a place to be determined.
Ballots can also be dropped off at the county administration building in Merced.
Filling the District 1 seat will bring the Los Banos City Council back up to full strength for the first time in months. Council members Evan Sanders and Marcus Chavez were appointed by city leaders in January to fill the unexpired terms of Brett Jones and Doug Begonia Jr., who were voted out of office in November recall.
But the next member of the Los Banos City Council must be chosen by voters. California state law requires that the majority of a city council has to be composed of members who were elected.
Visit the city of Los Banos website for more information about the upcoming special election.