Click here for all General Election 2008 vote results.
Obama elected new leader of United States By Denise Holley
Published Wednesday, November 5, 2008 2:23 PM MST
Voters in Santa Cruz County gave their hearts and their votes to Barack Obama for United States president, and returned Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords to Congress.
Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4th, 2008 in Chicago.
Here is the tally of Santa Cruz County votes in the national and state races as of 10:30 p.m. last night.
President
Barack Obama-D: 7,545 votes or 64.77 percent
John McCain-R: 3,987 votes or 34.23 percent
U.S. Representative
District 7
Raul Grijalva-D: 7,042 votes or 79.27 percent
Joseph Sweeney-R: 1,673 votes or 18.83 percent
District 8
Gabrielle Giffords-D: 1,245 votes or 54.61 percent
Tim Bee-R: 976 votes or 42.81 percent
State Senator
District 25
Manuel “Manny” Alvarez-D: 6,578 votes or 76.64 percent
Mary Ann Black-R: 1,995 votes or 23.24 percent
State Representative
District 25
Richard Boyer-D: 4,694 votes or 33.58 percent
Timathy Davies-R: 1,527 votes or 10.93 percent
Patricia Fleming-D: 5,750 votes or 41.14 percent
David Stevens-R: 1,997 votes or 4.29 percent
Sainz triumphs over Scanlan
By Denise Holley
Published Wednesday, November 5, 2008 9:39 AM MST
At least 55.83 percent of the 21,177 registered voters in Santa Cruz County cast ballots in the 2008 general election. But as of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, elections staff still had to verify and count some 200 provisional ballots, said Luis Parra, deputy county attorney.
In 2004, the county voter turnout was 51.83, according to Nogales International archives.
County Recorder Suzanne “Suzie” Sainz fended off a strong challenge from opponent Valerie Scanlan and held onto her seat. At 10:30 p.m. last night, Sainz had 5,834 votes or 53.24 percent of the vote to Scanlan’s 5,107 votes or 46.61 percent.
The race for county supervisors was all but decided in the primary election on Sept. 2. Yesterday, voters returned incumbents Manuel “Manny Ruiz and John Maynard to their seats on the county board of supervisors. Newcomer Rudy “Bugs” Molera, who upset incumbent Robert Damon in the primary, prevailed over Alberto “Negro” Verdugo.
Here are the vote totals as of 10:30 p.m. last night:
County supervisors
District 1
Manuel “Manny” Ruiz-D: votes 1,938 or 67.46 percent
Joseph “Pepe” Wise-Ind.: votes 928 or 32.3 percent
District 2
Rudy “Bugs” Molera-D: votes 2,668 or 79.36 percent
Alberto “Negro” Verdugo- Ind. 688 or 20.46 percent
District 3
John Maynard-D: votes 3,194 or 65.3 percent
Juan Andres Ibarra-Ind.: votes 480 or 9.81 percent
Joel Kramer-Ind.: votes 1,202 or 24.58 percent
Assessor
Felipe Fuentes Jr.-D: votes 7,518 or 71.03 percent
Alfonso Ochoa-Ind.: votes 3,054 or 28.85 percent
Recorder
Suzanne “Suzie” Sainz-D: votes 5,834 or 53.24 percent
Valerie Scanlan-Non-part.: votes 5,107 or 46.61 percent
Sheriff
Antonio “Tony” Estrada-D: votes 7,349 or 65.53 percent
Jose “Joe” Padilla-Ind.: votes 3,846 or 34.29 percent
Unopposed
Clerk of the Superior Court: Juan Pablo Guzman-D: votes 9,014 or 98.78 percent with 111 write-ins
County Attorney: George Silva-D: votes 8,791 or 98.76
Judge of the Superior Court, Div. 2: Anna Montoya-Paez-D: 7,343 votes or 98.64 percent, with 101 write-ins
Superintendent of Schools: Alfredo Velasquez-D: 8,878 votes or 99.04 percent, with 86 write-ins
Treasurer: Caesar Ramirez-D: 9,149 votes or 99.08 percent, with 85 write-ins
Voters in the Tubac Fire District approved a $15 million bond by a vote of 1,173 (57.81 percent) to 856 against (42.19 percent).
In Sonoita-Elgin, voters soundly defeated an initiative to dissolve their fire district. The vote was 330 (32.9 percent) in favor to 673 (67.1 percent) opposed.
Voters OK Tubac FD bond, re-elect incumbents on school boards
By Denise Holley
Published Friday, November 7, 2008 9:08 AM MST
Voters in the Tubac Fire District approved a $15 million bond issue and re-elected three incumbent members to the district board: Doris “Dot” Bergmann, Michael Burns and Denny Scanlan.
In Nogales, voters returned Frank Morales and L. Hunter Nash to the Nogales Unified School District No. 1 governing board. They elected Charlotte Suarez to replace Heidi Ortiz, who chose not to seek re-election.
Incumbent Mercedes Fernandez was re-elected to the board of Santa Cruz Elementary School District No. 28 (Little Red Schoolhouse), along with newcomer Christina Montano.
In Rio Rico, Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District No. 35 board member Harry Clapeck chose to run for a 4-year term, said Manny Alvarez, chief deputy in the county school superintendent’s office.
Clapeck had been appointed to a 2-year term in 2007. Susan Faubion filed for that 2-year term and ran unopposed, Alvarez said. Before the election, the board of supervisors appointed all the unopposed candidates to their posts.
This left two 4-year terms open for the election. Clapeck and incumbent Brian Vandervoet prevailed over Jack Scholnick, a parent who challenged the school district last year over its alleged treatment of special education students.
Here are the unofficial results:
Tubac Fire District
Doris “Dot” Bergmann: 804 votes, 15.91 percent
Michael Burns: 978 votes, 19.35 percent
Ron Campana: 575 votes, 11.37 percent
Richard Conroy: 423 votes, 8.37 percent
Douglas Muri: 398 votes 7.87 percent
Denny Scanlan: 1,183 votes, 23.4 percent
Randy Williams: 681 votes, 13.47 percent
Write-in votes: 13 votes, .26 percent
Tubac Fire District bond issue
For the bonds: 1,182 votes, 57.83 percent
Against the bonds: 862 votes, 42.17 percent
Nogales Unified School District No. 1
Frank Morales: 3,134 votes, 38.66 percent
L. Hunter Nash: 2,512 votes, 30.99
Charlotte Suarez: 2421, 29.86 percent
Write-in votes: 40, .49 percent
Santa Cruz Elementary School District No. 28
Mercedes Fernandez: 197 votes, 35.5 percent
Tom McAlpin: 151, 27.21 percent
Christina Montano: 207 votes, 37.3 percent
Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District No. 35
Harry Clapeck: 1,758 votes, 29.36 percent
Jack Scholnick: 1,534 votes, 25.62 percent
Brian Vandervoet: 2,637 votes, 44.37 percent
Record number of voters turn out in Santa Cruz County
By Denise Holley
Published Wednesday, November 12, 2008 8:44 AM MST
Voter turnout in the Nov. 4 election reached 63.93 percent in Santa Cruz County, now that elections staff have counted the provisional ballots. The number eclipsed the 56.8 percent who voted in the 2004 presidential election and the 57 percent who turned out in 2000.
Of the 21,177 registered voters, 13,538 cast ballots on Tuesday, said Elections Director Melinda Meek. A large number voted early ballots in person at the recorder’s office or mailed them to the recorder. But 386 voters dropped off their early ballots at polling places on Election Day.
The high turnout created long lines for some voters, especially at the Lutheran Church in Rio Rico and the Tubac-Peck Canyon Fire Station, Meek said.
She described the election as “very exciting.” Poll workers, including many who were new this year, “did an incredible job,” Meek said.
After the polls closed, poll workers brought 527 provisional ballots to the elections department, Meek said. These ballots are issued to voters whose names do not appear on the roster, or have moved, or have identification that does not match the address on the roster, or who had requested an early ballot.
Elections staff checks those names against their rolls and count the provisional ballot if they can verify the voter is eligible, Meek said. Only 18 conditional provisional ballots remained uncounted on Wednesday, which were issued to voters who did not bring a proper ID to the polling place. If they want their vote to count, those voters need to bring identification to the recorder’s office or Patagonia Town Hall by Nov. 12.
Click here for all General Election 2008 vote results.
©2007-08 Mike Susinski
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