Victor Gordo Slightly Ahead of Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek

By TerryMiller

In this 2020 race, locally and nationally we’ve seen muckrakingattacks, both figurative and literal, and nobody knows where it’ll end. Despitethe seemingly endless attacks, voters made educated decisions.

The big surprise of the night, of course, was the huge comeback ofJoe Biden as well as BernieSanders’ win in the Golden State.

However, there was an added twist nationally and locally when manyof the new voting machinesbroke down adding to the long waittimes for voters who waited until Election Day to cast theirvote. In Pasadena and Monrovia, voters reported waiting several hours in somelocations and in Texas, voters were still casting their ballots long after thepolls closed due to the excessive lines.

We’ve seen some humor, love and passion — especially locally. Forexample, ChrisShevlin donned colorful sandwich boards replete with lights as he walkedFoothill Boulevard every night for his wife. Becky Shevlin easily managed tokeep here seat on Monrovia City Council.

After the recent week’s bear debacle, where news helicopters awokethe community at 5 a.m. just for a bear sighting, candidate for Monrovia counciland local realtor Donna Baker enlisted the help of friends on Facebook to weara bear outfit while toting her campaign signs around.

MonroviaResults

Despite long lines at Monrovia Public Library and numerouselection station breakdowns, voters turned out Super Tuesday to re-electMonrovia incumbents.

Mayor Tom Adams, council members Becky Shevlin and GloriaGrudgington swept new contenders’ challenges under the bus in Monrovia’smunicipal election on March 3.

Adams received 52.08 percent of the vote versus newcomer MelissaTaylor’s 45.31 percent.

Council challenger and local realtor Donna Baker received 24percent of the vote.

PasadenaResults

At press time, it looks like there will be a runoff for themayoral position at Pasadena City Hall.

Councilmember Victor M. Gordo was at approximately 46 percent ofthe vote at 9 a.m., giving Mayor Terry Tornek a run for his money with 42percent of votes tallied. At press time the margin is narrow but Gordo is inthe lead with 10,702 votes.

Felicia Williams received 51.06 percent for District 2. GeneMasuda took a healthy win at 60.69 percent for District 4. Steve Madison wasre-elected with almost 53 percent of the vote in District 6.

ProblemsExperienced

There were the few reports of stolen campaign signs in Pasadenaand San Gabriel but for the most part, candidates we spoke to were more concernedwith the vitriol on the internet.

While maliciousness is not uncommon during elections, the tempertantrums posted on some Facebook pages is stunning. One voter complained thatshe wasn’t allowed to show her ID before voting; to which one replied: “That’sbecause the pos (sic) democrats (sic) need the illegal votes.”

Voting was slow, Monday morning in Monrovia. The colorful newdigital voting machines seemed to be a surprise to some. However, there wereplenty of election workers on hand in the Monrovia Community Center Mondaymorning to assist voters through the process. One simply taps the BallotMarking Device (BMD) and then selects the preferred language. From there youinsert the ballot, make selection(s), review and you’re finished. The librarytold a different story of long lines and broken machines.

Arcadia’s municipal election is April 14.

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