Election results: IID heading for a shakeup while incumbents holding on at Coachella Valley water boards

Water districts races in the Coachella Valley on the Nov. 3 ballot saw all their incumbents holding onto leads by Wednesday afternoon, but Imperial Irrigation District's board of directors appeared to be headed for a board shakeup. 

Longtime Director Bruce Kuhn already fell in the primary for IID Division 2, which covers Heber and parts of El Centro. Incumbent Erik Ortega was also behind his challenger in Division 4 by fewer than 50 votes on Wednesday.

JB Hamby, a 24-year-old who touted his status as a fourth-general valley resident, his Stanford University degree, and his energetically stated defense of the valley's water rights, released a statement on Wednesday extolling his likely victory in Division 2.

"Last night, we made history," he said, adding that voters "made the choice to shape history in the Imperial Valley, across the Colorado River, the American West and Mexico."

Imperial Irrigation District: Powerful water district board's would-be directors outline their goals.

Desert Water Agency: Candidates outline their stances and priorities.

Mission Springs Water District: Board candidates explain their positions.

With 100% of precincts reporting and about 24% of eligible ballots counted, Hamby held a commanding 64% to 36% lead over attorney Ryan Childers.

Childers did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication.

In Division 4, which covers much of Calexico and the land along the U.S.-Mexico border, community organizer Javier Gonzalez was making a push to unseat Ortega. With 100% of precincts reporting, including about 23% of eligible votes counted, Gonzalez held onto the slimmest of leads. His 1,958 votes led Ortega by only 43 tallies.

Neither candidate responded to requests for comment by time of publication.

The story was different to the north, however, where several incumbents faced no challengers who qualified for the ballot. Those who did have to compete for their seats were leading in the early returns.

In the Desert Water Agency, incumbent Kristin Bloomer appeared on her way to retaining her seat in the first election where the board of directors was selected from geographical districts instead of at-large voting. With all precincts reporting and about 43% of eligible ballots counted, Bloomer had a wide lead, well out-pacing challenger Ray Amico with 3,035 votes to his 1,108 votes.

The only other competitive races in the valley's water districts were both in Mission Springs Water District, which also held its first election by division after transitioning away from the at-large style. MSWD's incumbents found themselves on a much hotter seat than Bloomer after the board weathered accusations that it hiked water bills and acted with a lack of transparency.

In Division 2, with all four precincts reporting but only about 24% of eligible ballots counted, incumbent Randy Duncan held the lead with 327 of 748 votes. Trailing him were challengers Larry Przybylski with 216 votes and Patricia Schniebs with 205 votes.

In Division 3, incumbent Russ Martin held a narrow advantage — 519 votes to 489 votes — over Terressa Powell with all four precincts reporting and about 27% of eligible ballots counted.

Riverside County still had 400,000 vote-by-mail and 25,000 provisional ballots that it began processing on Wednesday, although only some of these could fall within DWA's or MSWD's coverage areas. Imperial County was yet to release its number of still-uncounted ballots.

At 23% voter turnout by Wednesday afternoon, Imperial County experienced by far the lowest turnout of any California county.

Mark Olalde covers the environment for The Desert Sun. Get in touch at molalde@gannett.com, and follow him on Twitter at @MarkOlalde.