Tonight, Mission Viejo residents will decide whether to reelect city council members who’ve been on the dais for years or vote in a slate of new candidates.
Here’s where the vote is at, according to 10:30 p.m. results from the OC Registrar of Voters.
- In the city’s first district, Robert “Bob” Ruesch led with 51.58% of the 3,707 votes counted so far. Deborah Cunningham-Skurnik had 28.43% and Linda Shepard was behind with 19.99%.
- In the city’s second district, Brian Goodell was ahead with 54.63% of the 4,364 votes cast while Stacy Holmes trailed behind with 45.37%.
- In the city’s third district, Cynthia Vasquez was leading with 42.71% of the 2,861 votes cast, ahead of Greg Raths with 32.44% and Ed Sachs with 24.85%.
- In the city’s fourth district, Patricia “Trish” Kelley was ahead with 60.85% of the 2,884 votes cast, while Terri Aprati had 39.15%.
- In the city’s fifth district, Wendy Bucknum was ahead with 60.89% of the 3,534 votes cast, while Jon Miller had 39.11%.
This is also the city’s first time using district elections after fighting against the practice for years, and in the city’s first district there are no incumbents, meaning the council will see its first fresh face since 2016.
Mission Viejo has more city council seats on the ballot than any other city in the county this year, and was ordered to put its entire roster up for election by a judge earlier this year after the city pledged in 2020 that all five seats would be on the ballot.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a Groundtruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.