Three newcomers were in position Wednesday morning to fill the three open Saratoga City Council seats, and the $321 million bond for Saratoga and Los Gatos high schools was running just under the supermajority it needs.
The numbers below are Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters results updated at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, as posted by KQED and NBC Bay Area, and Santa Cruz County's election-night count posted at 1:53 a.m. Wednesday.
All results are unofficial, and both counties will keep counting through the coming days. A ballot mailed with an Election Day postmark is still valid as long as it reaches the county by Nov. 10.
City Council (top three win)
- Ping Li: 4,650 (31.08%)
- Jeri Bromley: 4,197 (28.05%)
- Bill Dalton: 3,764 (25.16%)
- Glenn K. Hendricks: 2,350 (15.71%)
Dalton was 1,414 votes ahead of Hendricks for the third seat. None of the four candidates is on the current council; the city's roster lists Mayor Chuck Page, Vice Mayor Tina Walia and Councilmembers Belal Aftab, Kookie Fitzsimmons and Yan Zhao.
Measure N
The Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District bond needs 55% approval. In Santa Clara County, where most district voters live, it had 6,631 yes votes (53.83%) and 5,687 no (46.17%). In the district's Santa Cruz Mountains area, Santa Cruz County counted 792 yes (49.10%) and 821 no. Combined, that is 7,423 yes and 6,508 no, or 53.28% in favor.
The bonds would raise about $23 million a year for Saratoga High and Los Gatos High, which together enroll about 3,000 students, repaid by a property tax of $30 per $100,000 of assessed value. Superintendent Heath Rocha has put the total repayment cost, with interest, at about $690 million over roughly 30 years.
Supporters, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, say the schools need safety and infrastructure work; the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association argues the interest cost is too high and that a 2014 bond already promised some of the same repairs, according to Bay City News.