LISD race leads to run off

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

The widely contentious Lockhart Independent School District Board of Trustees election yielded a high voter turnout, but fell short in delivering concrete results.
Fifteen people vied for five seats on the LISD board in last Saturday”s election. Three of the five races remain undecided and will move forward to a run-off

election next month.
According to election coordinators Lisa Rosson and Connie Ortiz, around 800 voters cast early ballots in Saturday”s election. Another 1000 or so visited the polls on Saturday, for a grand total of nearly 1,800 votes, a 32 percent increase in voter turnout from 2002.
The current LISD board will meet on Monday, May 16 to officially canvass the votes and set the run-off election between candidates for Districts 1, 2 and 3. Although the election date is not official, it is expected that the run-off will be held on June 18.
In the three races that are advancing to the run-off, as few as three and as many as 50 votes separated the first- and second-place candidates. Each of the three races consisted of three candidates, and in all three cases, the third candidate earned just enough votes to keep any candidate from earning more than 50 percent of the vote, thereby avoiding a run-off.
The closest race was in District 3 between incumbent Paul Hardwick and hopeful Clint Mohle. Hardwick earned 262 votes to Mohle”s 259, with a third candidate, Jerry Hinkle picking up only 51 votes. Because neither candidate earned more than 50 percent of the vote, the two leading candidates, Hardwick and Mohle, will advance to next month”s run-off.
Thirty votes separated the first- and second- place candidates in District 2.
Incumbent Andy Govea earned 139 votes, nearly 41 percent of the total ballots cast, while Gary Allen,, a former trustee and board president earned 49.7 percent with 169 votes. Rosa M. Hernandez earned 32 votes.
District 1 showed the greatest gap between candidates, with Timoteo “Tim” Juarez, Jr. earning 163 votes (49 percent), incumbent Raymond Gonzales earning 113 (34 percent) and “ringer” John Storbakken pulling in 56 (nearly 17 percent).
In next month”s run-off, Hardwick will go head-to-head with Mohle, while Govea faces Allen and Juarez competes with Gonzales.
Additional information about the Board of Trustees runoff, including polling places and voting schedules will be provided as details become available.
The two remaining races, District 4 and the Trustee At-Large positions yielded clear-cut results in Saturday”s election.
In District 4, incumbent Carl Ohlendorf was victorious over hopeful John Manning, earning 347 votes (65 percent) to Manning”s 185 (35 percent).
Incumbent at-large trustee John Flores was also returned to the board, earning the lion”s share of the 1,746 votes cast in his race.
Unlike the single-member district races, the at-large race does not require the winning candidate to earn more than 50 percent of the vote.
Flores earned 764 votes, or around 44 percent. Hopeful Peter Reinecke trailed Flores with 518 votes (nearly 30 percent), while Kerry Gaddis earned 334 and Dawn Hernandez earned 130.