GALT, CA (MPG) - As of Nov. 8, Tim Reed has taken an early lead in vote counts for the Galt City Council election. Other early vote counts in the high school district and legislative races show incumbents ahead of their challengers.

In the race for two open City Council seats, vote counts reported on Nov. 8 showed Reed with 42.2% of ballots. He is followed by Mathew Pratton with 29.6% of the vote and Bonnie Rodriguez with 28.2%.

The two City Council seats are open because incumbent Councilmembers Jay Vandenburg and Kevin Papineau both opted not to seek reelection as their terms end. With Galt Vice-Mayor Rich Lozano running unopposed for a seat on the Cosumnes Community Services District board of directors, it will most likely fall to City Council to appoint his replacement.

The vote-counting process takes several weeks and the vote totals are likely to change with each update from the Sacramento County elections office. A vote count update is scheduled at 4:15 p.m. Nov. 15 and the next update is at 4:15 p.m. Nov. 19.

As of Nov. 8, the county estimated that 260,000 ballots remain to be counted, with an unknown number containing votes in Galt races.

The race was tied for the Trustee Area 3 seat in Galt Joint Union High School District. Incumbent Trustee Pat Maple and challenger Karol Messersmith had received 587 votes each. This represented an advance for Messersmith, who erased Maple’s slight lead in early vote counting.

Local education bonds were falling short of the 55% threshold for passage. Galt Joint Union Elementary School District’s Measure H was on the cusp with 54.7% support; Arcohe Union School District’s Measure M had a bare majority at 50.8%.

Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, appeared likely to retain her House of Representatives seat representing Congressional District 7. 

The nine-term congresswoman had received 65.4% of votes counted, according to the California Secretary of State. Republican and Galt resident Tom Silva had 34.6% of the vote.

In State Assembly District 9, Assemblymember Heath Flora, R-Ripon, also had a strong lead over his challenger. 

Flora had 70.1% of the vote, compared to 29.9% for Tami Nobriga of the American Independent Party.

To follow the local election results, visit elections.saccounty.gov for races within Sacramento County. 

Visit the secretary of state’s website at electionresults.sos.ca.gov for the Assembly and House races.