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Editor’s note: These results are unofficial and many ballots are yet to be counted. We’re expecting another update from the county elections office Friday. Jump to other Santa Cruz County election results here.

SANTA CRUZ >> Santa Cruz City Councilmembers Drew Glover and Chris Krohn will be removed from office, according to unofficial election results with all precincts reported early Wednesday.

A county tally showed 56.5% of votes in favor of the removal of Glover and 54.3% in favor of Krohn’s removal.

More than 50% of the vote was needed to recall each council member from office. The unofficial results, as of 2:23 a.m. Wednesday, show all precincts reporting, according to the county elections website. The elections office has not finished counting vote-by-mail, provisional and same-day registration ballots. The election will be certified by March 31.

In the race to replace Councilmember Glover, Renee Golder led with 60.7% percent of the vote to former Mayor Tim Fitzmaurice’s 37.5%. The top vote getter would replace Glover if he is recalled. The term for Glover, 34, ends in December 2022.

In the race to replace Councilmember Krohn, Katherine Beiers led with 54.1% of the vote to Don Lane’s 43.9%. The term for Krohn, 62, ends in December.

Controversial votes on homeless policies helped spark the recall efforts in 2019. Recall organizers have said they disagreed with Krohn and Glover’s votes to keep open the unsanctioned homeless camp near Highway 1 and River Street. Recall supporters also disapproved of a proposal to allow overnight RV parking on Delaware Avenue.

A voter takes her ballot at the Santa Cruz Harvey West Clubhouse and Scouthouse polling place on Election Day, March 3, 2020. (Kara Meyberg Guzman — Santa Cruz Local)

Krohn’s alleged verbal mistreatment of a city staff member at a city council meeting and Glover’s salty exchange with Councilmember Donna Meyers about a meeting room schedule also became talking points among recall supporters.

Recall opponents have said that Glover and Krohn are needed on the council in part to push for 100% affordable housing projects and increased homeless services.

County Supervisor races

In early voting returns, District 2 Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend led challenger Becky Steinbruner 68% to 31.5%. The winner needs more than 50% of the vote.

In the crowded District 1 Santa Cruz County Supervisor race, incumbent John Leopold led newcomer Manu Koenig with 45.8% to 29.3% of the vote. Mark Esquibel captured 10.7% of the vote. Betsy Riker, Benjamin Cogan and Donald Kreutz all had less than 6% of the early vote. Fifty percent of the vote is needed to avoid a runoff among the top two candidates in November.

Tuesday afternoon, Santa Cruz County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Gail Pellerin dropped by the Harvey West Clubhouse and Scouthouse polling place. Pellerin said that new voting machines were working well.

County leaders also placed a dozen ballot drop boxes outside libraries and other places for voters to drop off ballots. Pellerin said the boxes were well used. Voter service centers also were open for a few days before election day for the first time.

Santa Cruz resident Trista Mallory gives her “I voted” sticker to her 1-year-old daughter, Esmé, at the Harvey West Clubhouse and Scouthouse polling place on Election Day, March 3, 2020. (Kara Meyberg Guzman — Santa Cruz Local)

“So far, so good,” Pellerin said at about 3:45 p.m. “I think we’ve got good traffic at our polls and our voter service centers.”

Polls were particularly busy at UC Santa Cruz, Pellerin said.

Some polling stations at UCSC had lines of more than an hour to get a ballot. Many were first-time voters. “There’s a lot of voters up there,” Pellerin said. “I know there’s a line. We’re offering that they can leave their application and then go away for two hours and come back and get their ballot. Or they can opt to wait in line and get it.”

Students waited to vote for more than hour at UC Santa Cruz’s bookstore Tuesday. (Natalya Dreszer — Santa Cruz Local)

Cabrillo College Measure R

A 32-year parcel tax to help fund Cabrillo College remained shy of the 55% it needed to pass Tuesday night. The “Yes” vote received 50.3% of the vote to the “No” vote’s 49.7%.

Bond sales would raise about $17 million annually to update laboratories, classrooms, and other infrastructure on campus.

It would tax homeowners $19 per $100,000 of assessed value on their homes. Opponents have pointed out that the tax would add to two other Cabrillo College taxes already on tax rolls. Another Cabrillo bond measure failed in 2016.

Supporters have said more than half of Santa Cruz County high school graduates attend Cabrillo College. Although overall enrollment has declined in recent years, there are crowded programs in nursing and technical medical fields in part because of lack of facilities, supporters have said.

Cabrillo College president Matthew Wetstein addresses the audience at a Measure R campaign kickoff at Jan. 23, 2020 at former state assemblyman Fred Keeley’s house. Unofficial election results show that Measure R failed to meet the 55% threshold. (Kara Meyberg Guzman — Santa Cruz Local)

Santa Cruz County Superior Judge race

In the judge’s race for Santa Cruz County Superior Court, Nancy de la Peña held a lead of 43.5% to Annrae Angel’s 28.9% to Jack Gordon’s 26.9% of the vote.

De la Peña was a 30-year criminal defense attorney and is now assistant counsel for Santa Cruz County. Angel and Gordon are defense attorneys.


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Local election results

Should Santa Cruz City Councilmember Drew Glover be removed from office? – needs majority vote to pass

Yes 7,250
56.47%
No 5,589 43.53%

Which candidate should replace Glover, should he be removed from office?

Renee Golder 7,085 60.70%
Tim Fitzmaurice 4,378 37.51%

Should Santa Cruz City Councilmember Chris Krohn be removed from office? – needs majority vote to pass

Yes 6,910 54.30%
No 5,815 45.70%

Who should replace Krohn, if he’s removed from office?

Katherine Beiers 6,190 54.06%
Don Lane 5,027 43.90%

Measure R – Cabrillo College bond – needs 55% to pass

No 25,778 49.71%
Yes 26,078 50.29%

Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge

Nancy de la Peña 19,992 43.48%
Jack Gordon 12,381 26.93%
Annrae Angel 13,305 28.94%

State assemblymember, 29th district

Incumbent Mark Stone (D) 35,649 77.78%
Shomir Banerjee (R) 10,038 21.90%

State assemblymember, 30th district

Incumbent Robert Rivas (D) 4,453 75.55%
Gregory Swett (R) 1,427 24.21%

State senator, 17th district

John Laird (D) 29,666 56.92%
Vicki Nohrden (R) 11,046 21.20%
Maria Cadenas (D) 9,686 18.59%
John Nevill (D) 1,608 3.09%

U.S. Representative of Congress, 18th Congressional District

Incumbent Anna Eshoo (D) 7,237 58.16%
Richard B. Fox (R) 1,498 12.04%
Rishi Kumar (R) 1,845 14.83%
Phil Reynolds (R) 1,469 11.81%
Bob Goodwyn (Libertarian) 367 2.95%

U.S. Representative of Congress, 20th Congressional District

Incumbent Jimmy Panetta (D) 27,121 65.73%
Jeff Gorman (R) 7,043 17.07%
Adam Bolaños Scow (D) 7,042 17.07%

Measure S: San Lorenzo Valley School District bond – needs 55% to pass

No 2,836 47.25%
Yes 3,166 52.75%

Measure T: Santa Cruz High School District parcel tax (needs 66.66% to pass)

Yes 18,455 70.36%
No 7,773 29.64%

Measure U: Santa Cruz Elementary School District parcel tax (needs 66.66% to pass)

Yes 10,319 76.64%
No 3,146 23.36%

Measure V: Soquel School District parcel tax (needs 66.66% to pass)

Yes 3,862 60.52%
No 2,519 39.48%

Measure W: Santa Cruz City Contracts for Public Works (Majority vote needed to pass)

Yes 9,413 79.56%
No 2,418 20.44%

Measure X: Santa Cruz City Schools district elections (needs majority vote to pass)

Yes 8,502 76.60%
No 2,597 23.40%

Measure Y: Watsonville sales tax for public safety

Yes 3,039 76.22%
No 948 23.78%

Check out our “Vote March 3” series about the local elections.

We interviewed more than 200 voters across the county and asked them what they wanted the candidates to talk about. Then we interviewed Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and Santa Cruz City Council candidates based on what we heard.


Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the length of the proposed Cabrillo College parcel tax.

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Stephen Baxter is a co-founder and editor of Santa Cruz Local. He covers Santa Cruz County government.

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Kara Meyberg Guzman is the CEO and co-founder of Santa Cruz Local. ​Prior to Santa Cruz Local, she served as the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s managing editor. She has a biology degree from Stanford University and lives in Santa Cruz.