What’s at stake?
The March 18 special election is a showdown between four candidates to win the District 5 Fresno City Council seat vacated by Luis Chavez, who left the council to after winning an election to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.
Early voting for the District 5 Fresno City Council special election is underway – and there’s several ways to make sure you can cast your ballot before polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
If you’re at least age 18, a U.S. citizen, not currently incarcerated, and a resident of Fresno’s southeast council district, you’re eligible to vote for the candidate you’d like to replace Luis Chavez, who vacated the D5 seat on the Fresno City Council to become a Fresno County supervisor.
Didn’t get a ballot, or not sure if you’re registered? Visit a vote center to speak with an election worker.
Voters can also drop off their ballots at one of Fresno County’s many secured dropbox locations through election day. Visit Fresno County’s elections website for a full list.
Still unsure about your choices? Check out Fresnoland’s special election voter guide to learn more about the candidates, endorsements and fundraising.
Fresno special election turnout so far
There are 36,000 registered voters in District 5, according to Fresno County Clerk James Kus.
Only about 3,500 have submitted their ballots so far as of Monday morning, he said – which “isn’t a ton,” but for a special election, “not bad.”
“We know special elections have lower turnouts,” Kus said. “I’ve had much lower return rates” than what he’s seeing for this one.
As for what turnout will look like Tuesday, Kus said it’s unpredictable at this point.
“Weather can have a negative impact,” he said. “News stories can have a negative or positive impact. So I really don’t know what’s going to be happening.”
The messy road to the Fresno special election March 18
The last few weeks leading up to the special election were full of controversy triggered by an election mailer sent out by an anonymous PAC that we still don’t know much about, even after Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz called them out for failing to file legally required disclosure records.
The mailer accused Brandon Vang – the election’s current frontrunner in terms of campaign contributions – of statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl while Vang was an adult over 30 years ago. The mailer cites a 1993 lawsuit Fresno County filed against Vang to establish child support.
Janz said his office was not investigating any of the claims made in the mailer but called out the shadowy group behind it, Fresno Future Forward, after telling reporters March 10 the group had not properly registered its campaign expenditures with the Fresno City Clerk.
A day later, Janz issued a $1,000 fine to the PAC for violating state and city disclosure laws. Fresno Future Forward registered its over $4,000 expenditure on the mailers with the city clerk that same day, as required, and though the group’s treasurer Riley Moore was listed on the forms, no additional information about who’s behind the group has been revealed. Moore has not responded to requests for comment.
As for the allegations of statutory rape, while Vang and his wife of 30 years have since acknowledged she was 15 and he was 20 when their first child was born, both denied any wrongdoing took place in interviews and voiced outrage over the attack ad.
Vang’s three opponents in the race – Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, Paul Condon and Jose Leon Barraza – have all denied any involvement with the mailer.
Jonasson Rosas, a longtime Fresno Unified trustee and wife of the former D5 representative Chavez, closely follows Vang in the campaign finance race, having raised roughly $100,000 in campaign contributions to Vang’s $120,000.
Condon works in marketing and advertising. Leon Barraza is the CEO of the Southeast Fresno Economic Development Corporation (SEFCEDA) and a member of Fresno’s Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission.
Vote Centers open now in District 5
Voters can drop their ballots off at any of the vote center locations below through 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 18. The vote centers also offer services for those who need language assistance, a replacement ballot, or would like to register to vote that day.
- Fresno County Elections office, 2221 Kern St., 93721
- Mosqueda Community Center, 4670 E. Butler Ave., 93702
- United Health Centers – Fresno Minnewawa, 645 S. Minnewawa Ave., 93727
Drop boxes throughout District 5
Voters can drop their ballots at the following dropboxes throughout District 5 through 8 p.m. Tuesday as well:
- Fresno County Elections office, 2221 Kern St., 93721
- Fresno City Hall, 2221 Kern St., 93721
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County, 1621 S Cedar Ave., 93702
- The Fresno Center, 4879 E. Cesar Chavez Blvd. (formerly Kings Canyon Road), 93727
- Fancher Creek Elementary School, 5948 E Tulare St., 93727
For voters returning vote-by-mail ballots
Kus urged voters mailing their ballots to the elections office on Tuesday to go into the post office to ensure their ballots get postmarked on March 18, rather than dropping those off in the blue mailboxes outside the post office.
In order to be counted under state election law, vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked on or before the date of a given election and received by the county elections office no later than seven days after the election.
“Take it inside and get it postmarked,” he said. “It hurts us when we have to reject the (vote-by-mail) ballot because someone put it into the blue box outside and it gets … postmarked the day after Election Day.”
