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Independent Voice

School Board Wins Clear, Council Too Close

Nov 17, 2022 12:00AM ● By Story and photo by Debra Dingman

Councilman Jim Ernest pictured here at the Chamber Candidates Forum was able to retain his old but new District representation on the Dixon dais with a clear victory.

DIXON, CA (MPG) - In the most recent voting update on November 15 at the end of the day, new man on the block, Julian Cuevas, nabbed the most votes with 3,109 in a clear victory for the Dixon Unified School District Board race with former trustee John Gabby coming in second with 2,760 and incumbent Jewel Fink in third with 2,560 votes.

"We do not call an election; we only certify results," said John Gardner from the Solano County Voter Registrar Office. "They will be certified on or about November 30 because we are auditing the results and making sure they're correct such as a signature not matching or some reason, we had to double check, the person has until November 28 to get back to us."

Although the votes have not yet been certified for any race, the school board race was one with clear winners.

Garner explained that the other way an election can be "called" is with someone claiming victory or a candidate conceding the loss but that is highly unlikely in the City Council race. Former District 1 Council Rep Scott Pederson who was now competing for a third term but in District 1 was trailing behind former Mayor/Councilman Thom Bogue by only 23 votes.

Although Bogue has already received numerous calls of congratulations, he hasn't claimed victory and Pederson has not conceded.

"To me, it's still too close to call it," said Bogue. He's waiting.

For District 2 Councilman Jim Ernest who was running for the newly redrawn District 1, he has a clear victory with almost twice as many votes as former councilman Michael Ceremello: 980 to 484.

Interestingly, and with the division of Dixon into Districts with a goal to be more 'equal,' in minority representation, there was no minority candidate. In addition, there were 1,464 voters in District 1 and only 1,028 voters in District 2, bringing a significant difference of 436 voters. One has to wonder why.

City Clerk Kristin Janisch will continue in her role after garnering 4,526 votes although that was a given in that she was uncontested.