- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Field in Lakeport Unified School Board race grows to six; Camacho joins as write-in candidate
Business owner Dan Camacho said that on Monday he completed the necessary paperwork to be a write-in candidate for one of the two four-year terms up for election in the race.
“I guess I'm looking to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Being on the school board is one way to do that,” Camacho said.
“He is a legally qualified write-in candidate,” Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley confirmed to Lake County News.
Fridley said there is a process to follow to be a write-in candidate for school district, but it only requires completion of a form, not gathering signatures.
She said write-in candidates have to educate the public about how the voting process works for write-ins.
Voters must write in the candidate’s name and then check the box next to it so it’s counted, she said.
Camacho now joins a field that includes incumbents Dennis Darling and Tom Powers, and a slate of candidates running together – Carly Alvord, Dan Buffalo and Jennifer Hanson.
Alvord, Camacho, Hanson and Powers are running for two four-year seats, while Buffalo and Darling are running for a seat with an unexpired term of two years.
The race this year has become particularly heated, beginning with questions about the Measure T bond funds and how they’ve been spent, with a key project for the community – a new swimming pool – not completed and not enough bond funds remaining for that project.
Then, earlier this month, the school board removed from her job Rachel Paarsch, the Terrace Middle School principal, reported to be a supporter of Alvard, Buffalo and Hanson.
Camacho said he’s not running in affiliation with any of the other candidates in the election.
Asked about why he was joining the race, Camacho said, “I was asked by a lot of people,” including parents, to do it.
Camacho, who owns an ice water company, has been involved with the schools for many years, including youth sports activities. He said he’s at the school almost every day on various errands.
Camacho also is a county planning commissioner for the Lakeport area.
He had applied to the district to fill Tina Scott’s seat on the board when she was elected to the Board of Supervisors.
Camacho said he has not specific campaign platform. “The school in general needs help,” he said.
He added, “I think we need to start with the kids first.”
Fridley, who has worked in the county elections office for 41 years, said this is only the second write-in candidate she’s seen in that time.
The only other was in 1982, when Betty Irwin ran for justice court judge as a write-in candidate, and won.
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