Election 2020 live results: Serratto appears poised to take Merced mayor’s race

A veteran prosecutor is poised to become Merced’s next mayor, barring any significant changes in local votes.

As of Wednesday afternoon, numbers from the Merced County Registrar of voters showed Matthew Serratto had 52.08% of the vote, eclipsing runner-up Michael Belluomini’s 20.94%.

Serratto is City Council District 5’s current representative and chief deputy district attorney for Merced County. “(The numbers) seem pretty conclusive I think, we feel great,” Serratto said Tuesday night. “Thanks for the support, we worked extremely hard during the campaign to get our message out and support the community.”

In the four-person mayors race, Anthony Martinez was at third place (13.63%) while Monica Kay Villa came in fourth (13.11%).

The early results were strong enough that any other mayoral candidate overcoming Serratto was an unlikely outcome, even as votes are updated, current Merced Mayor Mike Murphy said Tuesday.

“It’s a commanding lead,” Murphy said. “Its exactly the place that you want to be if you’re Matt Serratto on election night.”

Belluomini is a retired city planner and former Merced City Council member. Martinez is City Council District 1’s current representative and a 10th grade English at El Capitan High School. Villa is a well-known community advocate for the homeless.

As Murphy’s seat passes to the next mayor, Merced’s lead elected official will retain the position for a term twice as long as Murphy’s. Merced residents voted in the preceding primary election to extend the mayoral term from two to four years.

“It’s an exciting time to be mayor of Merced for the next four years,” Murphy said. “I’m going to be spending my time both finishing up strong, but also making sure Matt has a smooth transition.”

Murphy said that he will be focusing on his law practice and his family once his term expires.

Results can change

Still, the results are far from final. As of Wednesday afternoon thousands of votes remained to be processed in Merced County.

All eligible voters this year were sent mail-in ballots in an effort to promote physical distancing while voting amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Ballots that were postmarked by Election Day are still valid.

Eight drop-off ballot boxes were available countywide plus 13 vote centers.

Although about 75% of county residents have typically voted by mail during prior elections, Merced County Registrar of Voters Barbara Levey said the complete shift, in addition to other necessary precautions taken against COVID-19, represented a “big task.”

“It was extremely different, we had an extraordinary amount of work to do in that we changed the entire method,” Levey said. “There were a lot of challenges with all of that, but I think that we did well.”

Merced County voter turnout won’t be clear until all ballots are processed, but Levey estimated that it would be over 70%. During the November 2016 general election 99,224 Merced County voters cast ballots for a turnout of just over 73%, according to Levey.

Local turnout for the presidential primary election in March was about 43%. Primary elections typically draw smaller voter engagement than general elections.

Merced County voter turnout usually aligns with California as a whole, Levey said, noting that this election’s early returns indicated the county was on par with statewide trends.

Other Merced City Council races

Four of the City Council’s seven seats were on this year’s ballot.

City Council districts 1, 3 and 5 are all slated to see new representation. District 3 incumbent Jill McLeod is termed out, and districts 1 and 5 representatives have each opted to pursue the mayoral seat rather than seek reelection in their districts.

As of Wednesday afternoon, retired teacher Joel Knox was favored for Merced City Council District 1, claiming 43.76% of votes cast. Local activist Jesse Ornelas followed with 42.06% and retired teacher Louis Smith claimed 13.74%.

City Council District 3 was the tightest race. Local NAACP President Allen Brooks began the night with a slight lead, but Brooks lost the edge in the 10 p.m. Tuesday update to his competitor, business owner and labor organizer Bertha Perez.

The most recent count showed Perez with 50.06% of votes and Brooks with 49.71%.

Merced’s District 5 looked to be in businesswoman’s Sarah Boyle’s favor, as she claimed 53.29% of votes compared to business manager Jeremy Martinez’s 46.40%.

This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 8:38 PM.