With a light turnout on Election Day, voters appeared to bring some new leadership on board, though the results will remain unofficial until all absentees are in and all votes are certified by the Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters. Turnout was just under 16 percent.
Initial results show Oakdale voters electing newcomer Diane Gilbert to the Oakdale Joint Unified School District board, with 2,011 votes — for 26 percent — the leading vote getter of four people running for three available seats. All others were incumbents, with Mke House, 1962 votes, and William Dyer, 1882, poised to reclaim their seats. Incumbent Rick W. Jones, trailing at 1761 votes, apparently has been turned out of office.
In the race for a seat on the Oakdale Irrigation District board, Patricia Foard was leading Herman Doornenbal, 229-202, for a 53 percent to 47 percent lead.
Neighboring Riverbank had six people in the race for mayor, with former councilwoman Virginia Madueno holding a slim lead, 724-669, over Richard D. O’Brien. Madueno had 39 percent of the vote, with results still to be finalized, while O’Brien had 36 percent. Trailing were councilman/vice mayor Dave White, 244; Mark Ensley, 114; Larry King, 48; Paul Gutierrez, 13.The race for school board in Riverbank featured four candidates for three seats. Incumbent Ron Peterson was in the lead with 775 votes, for 31 percent, trailed by newcomer Elizabeth Meza, 692 and fellow incumbent Egidio ‘Jeep’ Oliveira, 564 votes. Those three appear headed to the board, with challenger Cohen Blount, with 449 votes, running fourth.Look in the Nov. 11 issue of The Oakdale Leader and The Riverbank News for full election results.
