Several Ventura County races in flux

The outcome of several Ventura County municipal races will not be known until late next week because a crush of last-minute absentee ballots delivered on election day has delayed the final tally, officials said Thursday.

About 75,000 of the roughly 219,000 absentee and provisional ballots cast still have to be counted, said Gene Browning, county assistant registrar of voters. An update is scheduled to be released today.

That means several close races remain officially undecided, including a tight contest for the supervisor’s seat in the 4th District, where political strategist Jim Dantona holds a slight lead over businessman Peter Foy.

In the Rio School District, where three seats were contested, fewer than 150 votes separate the third and fourth candidates and fewer than 10 votes will determine whether Jon Sharkey will keep his seat on the Port Hueneme City Council. Some Fillmore and Moorpark races also remain close.

Meanwhile, preliminary tallies show that Santa Paula voters have elected a Latino majority to the City Council -- a milestone made more remarkable because a few years ago the federal government sued the city, alleging that its electoral system discriminated against Latino voters.

In addition to incumbent Gabino Aguirre, challengers Bob Gonzales, the city’s retired police chief, and Ralph J. Fernandez, an architecture instructor, were the top vote-getters in Tuesday’s election. Councilmen Ray Luna and John Procter were not up for reelection.

Only six years ago, the Justice Department sued the city -- whose population of 29,000 is more than 60% Latino -- alleging that its at-large electoral system perpetuated racial discrimination by preventing Latino candidates from being elected to the council.

The government dropped its lawsuit when the city agreed to let voters decide whether they wanted to switch to a district system. Voters decided to stay with the same process.

“It’s incredible,” said David Rodriguez, national vice president for the far west region of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “We’re thrilled that the community has elected three Latino council members.”

Denis O’Leary, another league leader, said the organization’s local chapter was established to fight perceived discrimination in Santa Paula. He said this week’s election could prove that the city has “outgrown the need for district elections.”

Fernandez said race was never a factor in the campaign. Instead, he said voters wanted to know how candidates stood on the issues, particularly how to control residential development and how best to stabilize the tax base of the mostly blue-collar town. Both Fernandez and Gonzales, for instance, backed a successful initiative that would require a public vote for all development projects larger than 80 acres.

Gonzales, who helped patrol the streets of his hometown for nearly 33 years, on Wednesday morning assured an old friend, who is white, that he would represent all citizens equally.

“I asked him if he’d ever seen an autopsy,” Gonzales said. “Because, once they peel the skin back, we all look the same on the inside.”

greg.griggs@latimes.com