Voters Choose School Board Member Today

Moorpark voters will hit the polls today to decide which of two candidates will fill an interim opening on the Moorpark Unified School District Board of Education.

Ted Green and Mindy Yaras are vying for the school board seat vacated by Clint Harper, who was elected to the Moorpark City Council in November. The term for the school board seat ends in December 2000, and the winner will face reelection the month before.

Earlier this year, the school board appointed Yaras to fill Harper’s school board seat, citing the excessive cost of a special election at more than $20,000.

But, through a petition campaign led by former City Councilwoman Eloise Brown, a handful of residents gathered enough signatures to force today’s special election.

The elections division of the county registrar’s office projects that between 20% and 25% of Moorpark’s 15,251 registered voters will go to the polls or turn in an absentee ballot.

Based on county projections, as many as one-third of the votes officials expect to tally in the special election were cast via absentee ballot.

Of 1,527 absentee ballots requested from the county, 946 were returned by Friday, county officials said. Results from the absentee votes will be available just after 8 p.m.

The polls are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. today. Absentee ballots must be received by the time polls close. Registered voters unsure where they should vote can call the Ventura County Elections Division at 654-2781 for assistance.