Merced high school district race still too close to call

Ida Johnson and Greg Opinski will just have to wait until late Thursday or Friday to find out which one of them will be a school trustee next year.

Opinski is leading incumbent Merced Union High School District Trustee Johnson by 27 votes in the race for the Area 1 seat on the board after Nov. 4 voting. But there are just over 1,500 provisional ballots that must be reviewed by the Merced County Elections Department before a final vote total is known.

In last week’s voting, Opinski received 1,947 votes, or 37.89 percent of the total. Johnson, who has been a trustee for eight years, received 1,920 votes or 37.36 percent, and Mary Mercado had 1,250 votes or 24.32 percent of the total.

Barbara Levey, Merced County registrar of voters, said Tuesday it will take some time to verify the signatures on the 1,500-plus provisional ballots. She is hoping that tally will be complete late Thursday or Friday.

Levey explained elections workers first must have an up-to-date roster of who voted Nov. 4. Ballots are considered provisional if a voter shows up at a polling place other than the individual’s regular one or if someone voting at the polls does not surrender a mail-in ballot he or she previously received.

The concern is to make sure someone has not voted twice, Levey said. A provisional ballot also might be issued to a voter who has not voted in four years and does not show up on the voter rolls.

Johnson said she hopes for the best and is glad to know election workers are being careful tabulating the results.

“At least they are checking it out right,” Johnson said. “If he (Opinski) gets it, he has my best wishes. If I win, I will continue to do what I do. Our graduation rates are high and student achievement is up. I will continue what I’ve been doing, serving students.”

Opinski said the trustee race is almost a dead heat.

“We’ll see how things work out,” Opinski said. “I wish her the best. I hope I prevail, but it certainly could go either way.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2014 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Merced high school district race still too close to call."