The Merced County Registrar of Voters released its most recent ballot count Friday afternoon, increasing the number of processed ballots to 22,632 – up from the 18,887 ballots counted on Super Tuesday.
That increases the percentage of registered voters who participated to 17.64%. That’s substantially lower than the turnout for the 2020 presidential primary, where 43.3% of voters turned out.
According to the Registrar of Voters, there are still 13,990 votes left to count, most of which are vote-by-mail ballots (the office will continue counting vote by mail ballots postmarked Tuesday and received by 5 p.m. March 12).
Where the races stand
Although the Registrar’s Office has counted 3,745 more ballots since Tuesday,it didn’t make much of a difference in the Election Day results.
Measure C, the half-cent sales tax that supports staffing at the City of Merced’s police and fire departments, has 69.49% yes votes – well above 50% plus one threshold needed for it to pass.
In Merced County Supervisors District 1, Former sheriff’s sergeant Jim Pacheco gained some ground and appears on track to oust incumbent Rodrigo Espinosa, with 55.42% to 22.41% of the vote respectively. Pacheco needs 50% of the vote to avoid a November runoff.
Challengers in the District 1 race Maria Soto and Sonia Alshami trail far behind at 15.85% and 6.21% respectively.
In Merced County Supervisors District 2, incumbent Josh Pedrozo continues to outpace challenger Annissa Fragoso, 69.18% to 30.25% respectively.
In Merced County Supervisors District 4, incumbent Lloyd Pariera also leads far ahead of his competition, with 62.52% of the vote over Dennis Brazil (18.89%) and Jim Soria (18.33%).
Monika Saini-Donabed continues to lead in the race for Merced County Superior Court judge, with 62.63% of votes over Carlos Dammeier (20.76%) and Regina Sonia Lea-Adams (16.61%).
In Congressional District 13, incumbent Rep. John Duarte, a Republican, is set for a rematch in November with Democrat Adam Gray. They have 55.1% to 44.9% respectively in the primary.
Other county measures
Measure E – Delhi Unified School District , which would allow the Delhi Unified School District to issue $17 million in bonds for facilities updates, is below the 55% threshold needed to pass. The votes are divided 50-50, with 275 votes each in favor and opposed.
Measure G – In the City of Los Banos, on the question of whether the offices of city clerk and city treasurer should be appointive, 57.90% of voters said no, compared to 42.10% in favor.
Measure H – In the City of Los Banos, on the question of whether the term of office of mayor should be four years, 70.74% said “no” compared to 29.26% who voted “yes.”
The next ballot results are expected to be released 5 p.m. March 13.