Santa Cruz Council Race A Cliffhanger
Nov 12, 2008, by | Read more: News
Newcomer Terrazas leads incumbent Madrigal by narrow margin
Everyone thought the Santa Cruz City Council election would be close—but maybe not this close. With around 3,000 absentee and provisional ballots left to count, newcomer David Terrazas holds a slim 61-vote lead over incumbent Tony Madrigal for the fourth and final open seat on the council Meanwhile, returning hopeful Katherine Beiers is hanging on to her third-place finish by a meager 212 votes.
“At this point it’s anyone’s game,” says Santa Clara County transportation manager Terrazas. “The campaign continues. You have the open question of results and we just want to get the results in as fast as possible, then see where we stand.”
If the standings hold, Ryan Coonerty, Don Lane, Beiers and Terrazas will win the election and join mid-term council members Cynthia Mathews, Mike Rotkin and Lynn Robinson for at least the next two years. But with so many uncounted votes, the Santa Cruz County Elections Department isn’t ready to call the race.
“We will not be done until Dec. 2. Anything before that is un-audited, unchecked, unbalanced, completely unofficial,” says Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin. “I don’t certify an election until I’m 100 percent confident of the results.”
The Dec. 2 deadline Pellerin describes is part of a state law that mandates all results must be certified 28 days after an election. Only once an election is certified can a candidate apply for a recount. And though “28 Days Later” may be a sweet zombie flick, for candidates Madrigal and Terrazas, 28 days later is a long time to wait on tenterhooks. Pellerin says the candidates and their supporters have been calling the county office daily seeking updates. Publicly, however, the two young politicians are maintaining a calm and nonchalant demeanor. Terrazas calls the race a “virtual tie” and says that, win or lose, he is “proud to have competed against former mayors and incumbents and generated such strong voter turnout.”
For former farm worker Madrigal, he says a 61-vote lead is 60 more than Terrazas needs, but in the meantime it’s business as usual.
“I’m going back to my day job, back to reality,” says Madrigal, an organizer for SEIU-Health Care Workers West. “I feel optimistic. And I’ll continue to keep the same involvement in the community because that’s why I got involved in the first place.” - Curtis Cartier
