- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Markham wins judicial race; Pyska, Kearney in runoff for District 5 seat
The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office completed the official canvass for the primary this week in line with the normal schedule determined by state law, and well ahead of the April 24 extended deadline the governor granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interim Registrar Diane Fridley – whose last official day on the job was March 31 – reportedly had to deal with reduced staff, as extra help employees were not available to help with finishing up the official canvass as they were determined to be “nonessential” and sent home to shelter in place, based on a Board of Supervisors decision made last month.
Fridley’s completed count showed that Judge J. David Markham won election to continue as Superior Court judge over challenger Lisa Proffitt-O’Brien, a deputy district attorney.
The vote count was 2,435 votes, or 92.62 percent for Markham, to 194 votes or 7.38 percent for Proffitt-O’Brien.
Markham has served as a judge since February 2018. He was appointed in late 2017 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown to the bench to succeed Judge Richard Martin, who retired.
Both Markham – who missed the earlier filing deadline – and Proffitt-O’Brien were write-in candidates.
Another key race on the March 3 ballot was for the District 5 supervisorial seat, currently held by Rob Brown, who did not seek reelection.
In a four-person race, Jessica Pyska of Cobb, a businesswoman and educator, led the field with 1,923 votes, or 47.65 percent of the vote.
She will be in a runoff with Kelseyville resident Bill Kearney, a retired pharmacist, who received 1,120 votes or 27.75 percent of the vote.
Rounding out the field are educator Lily Woll of Kelseyville, with 898 votes or 22.25 percent, and Cobb resident and activist Kevin Ahajanian, with 95 votes, or 2.35 percent of the ballots cast.
Also on the ballot were the District 1 and 4 supervisorial seats.
For District 1, the final results confirmed that incumbent Moke Simon won a second term in a race with challenger Julia Mary Bono. Simon received 2,795 votes, or 78.82 percent of the vote, to Bono’s 751 votes, or 21.18 percent.
In the District 4 race, voters returned incumbent Tina Scott to office for a second term, giving her 2,506 votes or 62.71 percent of the vote. Challenger Chris Almind received 1,490 votes or 37.29 percent.
Based on the official canvass, turnout for the March primary was 52.86 percent, with approximately 17,902 of Lake County’s 33,866 registered voters participating, the majority of them by vote-by-mail, or absentee, ballot.
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