Updated results come in as some 38K ballots remain to be counted | News

Mary Bedard, the auditor, controller and clerk for Kern County, said further updates, such as this one, will continue to be posted to KernVote.com. The county must send its finalized results to the Secretary of State by Dec. 8.

Updates were released across the races and measures. Here are some highlights:

In the State Assembly race for the 35th district, which represents Kern County specifically, newcomer Jasmeet Bains has 60.43 percent of the vote. As of Friday afternoon, she has 26,583 votes, compared to Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez, who has 17,404 votes (39.57 percent).

The tightly contested battle for the Board of Supervisor, District 3 position continues as both candidates have stayed within a 5-point margin since the beginning. The race has been tight since ballots were first released on election night, but Jeff Flores is continuing to hold a lead with 14,552 (51.75 percent), with Brian Smith close behind at 13,567 (48.25 percent) ballots.

In the Kern Community College District, Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg maintains a lead over challenger John Antonaros in the 3rd District with 51.85 percent of the vote, as of Friday’s update.

As per the new update from the Kern Elections office, the contests for Bakersfield City Council are slowing down but far from decided.

Incumbent Ken Weir leads the Ward 3 pack with 4,775 votes (51.72 percent), with Boyd Binninger trailing in second with 3,358 votes (35.21 percent).

And in Ward 7, Manpreet Kaur continues a strong lead with 4,334 votes (53.03 percent) compared to Tim Collins’ 3,284 votes (40.18 percent) and Rajvir Singh Gill’s 555 votes (6.79 percent).

Consequential ballot referendums for affecting Kern’s leadership tell two different stories.  

A narrow margin for Measure K, the one-percent sales tax levied on unincorporated areas of Kern County, separated supports and detractors. There were 50.13 percent of people who voted for the increase, while 49.87 percent voted against it. 

But with Measure J, a referendum seeking to cap county supervisors’ term limits to two-term of four years each, voters appeared to be overwhelmingly in favor of it. There were 69.69 percent of people, or 93,598, who marked “yes” on their ballot while 30.31 percent of people, or 40,712 who marked “no.” 

Supervisors currently face no term limits.