DESERT HOT SPRINGS
– It was a big night for mayoral incumbent Yvonne Parks and city council member candidate Joe McKee in this city. By the time the Riverside
County Registrar of Voters had posted the final results for Election Night, Nov. 5 (and Desert Star Weekly went to press), Parks and McKee were the confident winners in their respective races. With 100 percent of precincts reporting in Desert Hot Springs (DHS) and 82 percent of all ballots counted countywide, Parks had taken 45.15 percent of the vote and McKee and 31.26 percent.
Their closest challenges in the mayoral and city council races, respectively, were Adam Sanchez at 40.37 percent and incumbent Scott Matas, who, at 27.97 percent, retains his city council seat. Rounding out the DHS mayoral contest, economist John-Paul Valdez mustered only 14.48
percent. Finishing third and fourth in the city council competition, incumbent Jan Pye came in at 24.96 percent and Robert Bentley trailed at 15.81 percent. Pye lost her city council seat to Joe McKee.
In the run for board of directors of the Mission Springs Water District, both incumbents —Nancy Wright, with 31.46 percent of the vote, and Jeff Bowman, with 25.52 percent — retained their seats. Malcolm McLean and Mary Jane Sanchez-Fulton trailed in virtual unison at 21.57 and 21.46 percent, respectively.
In Palm Springs, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, the city council — with two seats up for grabs — remained status quo. Incumbent Ginny Foat registered 33.95 percent of the votes, incumbent Chris Mills 33.25 percent, Judy Deetrack 20.29 percent and Jeffrey Nichols
12.50 percent.
The contest for three seats on the board of directors of the Desert Water Agency found Pat Oygar with 30.44 percent of the votes, Jim Cioffi
with 28.49 percent, Joe Stuart with 24.58 percent and Michael Paduano with 16.50 percent. Palm Springs Measure B, which will place taxes on the city’s three legal medicinal marijuana dispensaries, passed by a wide margin: 66.89 percent to 33.11 percent.
By 10:30 p.m., nearly about 37,000 ballots had been counted and posted. A final count wasn’t expected until midnight. Provisional ballots were expected to be counted several days later.
