Incumbent Lisa Gauthier is leading the race for East Palo Alto’s city council, ahead of six other candidates including two incumbents.
The council candidates are vying for three seats, as the terms for councilmembers Gauthier, Carlos Romero and Larry Moody come to an end.
Gauthier had 18% of the votes according to unofficial election results as of Friday morning.
Incumbent Romero followed with 16.7% of votes and newcomer Webster Lincoln, a data scientist at Genentech, garnered 16.2% support.
Newcomers Antonio Lopez, a writer and doctoral candidate at Stanford University, and Juan Mendez, recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, are in fourth and fifth place with 15.2% and 12.4% votes respectively.
Incumbent Moody held 11.7% of the votes while newcomer Stewart Hyland — organizing director of the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County — had 9.8% of votes.
Newcomers lead race for school board
In the race for two seats on the school board for the Ravenswood City School District, incumbent Marielena Gaona-Mendoza is in third behind newcomers Bronwyn Alexander and Jenny Varghese Bloom.
The Ravenswood City School District serves residents of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park.
Alexander is in the lead with 23.8% support, followed by Bloom at 21.4% and Gaona-Mendoza at 13.9%.
In the next four slots, candidates Julian Alberto Garcia received 12.7% of votes, Joel Rivera and Mele K. Latu received 12.2% and Zeb Feldman received 3.7%.
Hotel tax for affordable housing narrowly losing
East Palo Alto residents also voted on Measure V, a local measure which proposes increasing the transient occupancy tax — sometimes called a “hotel tax” — from 12% to 14% by 2023.
The tax, which would be paid by visitors staying at hotels or short-term rentals, requires two-thirds’ approval to be passed, since revenue goes specifically towards affordable housing.
Latest election results show that the measure only has 64% support, just short of the two-thirds’ majority needed.
Similar measures proposing increased TOT rates in San Bruno, San Mateo and Half Moon Bay have garnered over 70% support each. Unlike East Palo Alto’s Measure V, the measures require only a simple majority to pass, and revenue from these taxes will go toward general city services.
San Mateo County last updated its election results at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Voter turnout is at 65.1% so far, and there are approximately 71,000 ballots left to count according to the county’s website.
Results will be updated at 4:30 p.m. Monday, then every couple days until Nov. 30. The election will be certified Dec. 3.