Alhambra Woman Seeks Write-In Vote

Esther Chow has filed a declaration of candidacy with the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office to be a write-in candidate for the Alhambra School Board in Tuesday’s election.

Chow, 52, a medical laboratory technician, said she missed the deadline for qualifying for the ballot. Chow has never sought public office before and is focusing her campaign on the selection of the site for a new high school in the Alhambra City and High School Districts, which includes Alhambra and parts of Monterey Park, Rosemead and San Gabriel.

The school should be built in Monterey Park or Alhambra, but not where residents have objected to the possibility that their homes might be lost, she said. “This triggered me to run for justice.”

A native Indonesian, Chow has lived in Rosemead for 11 years with her husband and two children. She said that the quality of education is more important than the number of students who graduate from the school district.

The names of three candidates, incumbents Dora S. Padilla and Charles C. Scanlon and challenger Joseph A. Castro, will be on the ballot. Two board seats are open.