NLMUSD election results update: Rios lead widens to 34 votes

Incumbent Jesse Urquidi, the current vice president of the NLMUSD school board is in danger of losing his reelection bid for a second term to challenger Jose Rios who now has a razor thin lead of 34 votes.

Rios, a realtor from Norwalk saw his lead widen on Friday after overtaking Urquidi earlier in the week by just four votes.

The next results update will be released on late Tuesday afternoon. 

Updated results can be found below.

Results as of Friday Nov. 20

Candidate(s)	Votes	Percent
CHRISTOPHER STAPLES (N)	22,075	26.41%
KAREN MORRISON (N)	21,024	25.15%
JOSE M. RIOS (N)	20,264	24.24%
JESUS "JESSE" URQUIDI (N)	20,230	24.20%

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7 arrested at La Mirada DUI checkpoint

Seven drivers were arrested at a Sheriff's Department DUI checkpoint last night on Imperial Hwy. west of Valley View Av. including one driver that was taken into custody for DUI.

Five drivers were arrested for driving without a license or for being behind the wheel with a suspended or revoked license.

The owner of one vehicle was arrested, cited, and released for knowingly allowing an unlicensed driver to operate their vehicle (yes it's a misdemeanor crime) and one driver was cited for having an open container of alcohol in their vehicle.

Deputies towed five vehicles during the operation funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety that began at 6 p.m. and ended at 2 a.m.

Update**Curfew to help battle the spread of the Covid-19 virus announced

 ***Update**

The state has announced a 'limited' Stay At Home Order, requiring all non-essential work, movement and gatherings to halt between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in counties in the state’s most restrictive “purple” tier of the coronavirus-monitoring system.

All Southern California counties are in the purple tier. The new order will take effect at 10 p.m. Saturday and remain in effect until 5 a.m. Dec. 21.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva stated earlier in the week he would not have his deputies enforce a curfew on businesses if one were to be implemented. It's unclear what his stance is on a stay-at-home curfew.

County health chief warns stay-at-home home order could arrive as early as this weekend

Los Angeles County is reporting a staggering 5,031 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, raising the cumulative total to 353,232 City News Service reports.

Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis says it’s the highest number reported by the county in a single day since the start of the pandemic, absent a backlog of cases. The county is also reporting another 29 deaths, raising the death toll to 7,363.

Dr. Muntu Davis says if the county’s daily COVID-19 cases continue at the pandemic-high level reported today, the county could find itself under a strict stay-at-home order as early as Sunday. 

Such an order would allow only essential workers to leave their homes, as well as people accessing essential services. It would also include a countywide curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Update: NLMUSD Board V.P. in danger of losing re-election bid

In the race for the third open seat on the Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District board, Vice President Jesse Urquidi has seen his lead on election night of 1.04% disappear and now trails Challenger Jose Rios by four votes.

The updated results released late Tuesday show newcomer Christopher Staples, and incumbent Karen Morrison both from La Mirada continue to hold safe leads for two of the three open seats on the board.

Rios, a realtor from Norwalk had trailed Urquidi by 622 votes on election night now is in a good position to pull an upset but it may take a while to get a final tally.

Votes are still being tallied daily during a 30-day period after Election Day known as canvassing.

It is during this period where election officials will tally vote-by-mail ballots received on or after Election Day that were postmarked honor or before November 3rd, provisional, damaged and writing ballots.

Officials will then do an audit by pulling a certain amount of ballots to ensure the original count was accurate then certify the results.

The next results update is due to be released late afternoon on Friday.

Results: (Three seats available)

Candidate(s)	Votes	Percent
CHRISTOPHER STAPLES (N)	21,901	26.41%
KAREN MORRISON (N)	20,882	25.18%
JOSE M. RIOS (N)	20,077	24.21%
JESUS "JESSE" URQUIDI (N)	20,073	24.20%

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ALSO: East Whittier City School District #5

Covering parts of N. La Mirada, East Whittier, and Murphy Ranch.

Wendy Cabrera a professor at Rio Hondo College has taken a 50 vote come from behind lead ahead of homemaker Amelia Bakshi of East Whittier.

Candidate(s)	Votes	Percent
WENDY CARRERA (N)	3,597	50.35%
AMELIA BAKSHI (N)	3,547	49.65%

Local elections: Urquidi lead narrows in school board race

The race for the third seat on the Norwalk-La Mirada school board tightened considerably Monday with incumbent and Board Vice President Jesse Urquidi now holding just an 82 votes lead over challenger Jose Rios.

The 19,412 votes for Urquidi and the 19,370 for Rios is a difference of .10 percentage points at 24.21% to 24.11%.

Incumbent Karen Morrison and newcomer Christopher Staples, both from La Mirada appear destined to victory for the other two available seats up for grabs on the board of seven board members.

Staples had widen his lead in the contest by late Monday, earning 21,133 of the votes tallied so far while Morrison has received 20,306 this far.

Ballot counting was to resume again this morning.

Meanwhile in the East Whittier school board District 5 race, Wendy Carrera who had been trailing Amelia Bakshi by several dozen votes since election night has come from behind to take a 50.45% to 49.55% lead in the contest.

Carrera a professor at Rio Hondo College has 3,505 votes, a 48 votes lead over homemaker Bakshi's 3,443 with mail-in ballots still remaining to be counted.

East Whittier District #5 represents parts of N. La Mirada, East Whittier, and the Murphy Ranch neighborhood.

La Mirada to honor veterans at public ceremony

La Mirada-  The public is invited to attend a special Veteran's Day ceremony Wednesday at Civic Center Plaza next to City Hall to honor the men and women that have served in the military throughout the history of this nation. 

The event will pay special tribute to La Mirada veterans begins at 11 a.m. and will begin with Bittany Fisheli of La Mirada singing the national anthem.

The ceremony will be streamed live on both the City of La Mirada Facebook page and its Twitter feed.

Social distancing and wearing of masks will be practiced.

For additional information contact La Mirada Community Services at 562)  943-7277. 

Late Thursday school board election results

 Local School Board Elections Update:

These are the latest numbers from Thursday evening.

Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District- 3 seats available

Christopher Staples 17,382 votes 26.20%

Karen Morrison* 17,263 votes 26.02%

Jesse Urquidi* 16,139 votes 24.33%

Jose Rios 15.553 votes 23.45%

*Incumbent

Staples, Morrison, and Urquidi are La Mirada residents, Rios is from Norwalk.

East Whittier City School District

District #5 representing parts N. La Mirada, East Whittier, and Murphy Ranch.

Amelia Bakshi 2,943 votes 50.44%

Wendy Carrera 2,892 votes 49.56%

Wild swings forecast to bring heat then chilly weather

After several days of normal November weather, an offshore weather pattern will push daytime highs well above average today and Thursday followed by a sharp cooling trend Friday producing the chilliest fall weather so far and even bring a chance of 30% chance of rain over the weekend.

Today and Thursday will be hot and dry with highs reaching into the 90's by tomorrow. Wind prone areas will experience strong northwest Santa Ana winds with low humidity levels that will produce red flag conditions in some wildland fire-prone areas.

A sharp swing in the weather will occur on Friday as a cold-weather system takes hold in the area that will drop daytime highs 20 degrees lower in 24 hours becoming chilly on Saturday where overnight lows will fall into the 40's.

A 10% chance of rain will accompany the cold weather beginning Friday night.

Today's high was forecast to be 86 in La Mirada going down tonight to 61 followed by a high on Thursday jumping to 93.

The dramatic cool off starts to take hold Friday where the high will fall to 72, followed by 66 on Saturday when there will be a 30% chance of rain and a high of 64 on Sunday. It will gradually begin warming up again on Monday. Overnight lows will drop into the 40's on Saturday and Sunday.

Local Election Results:Three La Miradans hold lead in school board race

8 a.m. results 

Potential newcomer Christopher Staples of La Mirada continues to hold the top spot in the race for one of the three seats up for grabs on the Norwalk-La Mirada school board 26.14% of the votes tallied so far with 15,566.

Incumbent Karen Morrison continues to hold second place with 15,496 votes at 26.02%.

The contest for the final spot has narrowed slightly since Midnight between incumbent Jesse Urquidi the current Board Vice President also from La Mirada with 14,532 and challenger Jose Rios's 13,965 votes.

At Midnight, Rios who trailed Urquidi by 1.04% has inched closer and is now behind 0.95% of the vote.

Urquidi surprised many observers last week by introducing the motion that kept open Dulles Elementary School.

NLMUSD Election Results

 Three candidates from La Mirada including incumbents Karen Morrison and Jesse Urquidi and a potential newcomer Christopher Staples were leading in the race for three seats on the Norwalk-La Mirada school board as of Midnight.

Christopher Staples led the balloting with 15,312 and 26.12% of the votes. Staples was just ahead of incumbent Karen Morrison who had 26.10% of the votes tallied with 15,299.

Current Board Vice President Jesse Urquidi finds himself in a tight race with challenger Jose Rios for the third seat with 24.41% of the vote to Rios' 23.37%. Urquidi has a 614 vote lead with 14,311 to Rios' 13,697.

See the latest updates on the 2020 US Election.

See Election Updates

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Voters finding minimal waits on Election Day

 LaMirada- The long lines and confusion experienced by last minute voters in the 2016 presidential election appears will not be repeated tonight.

As of 4:30 p.m. all voting centers in La Mirada are reporting waiting times at 15 minutes or less. 

At the voting center at the La Mirada County Library there was no waiting to cast a ballot in person.

In addition to the voting centers there are also dropboxes at Gardenhill Park and outside the La Mirada library.

There are five voting centers in the city including the library, the city Activity Center behind Fire Station 49, the La Mirada Adult School on Alondra and Ocaso Av, the Neff Park Barn, and in the lobby at the La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts.

Photo: Voters are arriving to find no wait to cast a ballot at the La Mirada Library at 4:30 p m.

****Update 6:15 p.m.****

Voting is going more smoothly than most had predicted as voters are finding minimal or no waiting as the 8 p.m. closing time nears. 

At 6 p.m. at the Neff Park voting center voters were finding poll workers in good spirits, a change from four years ago when workers had to deal with equipment issues that resulted in long lines of short-tempered voters that were left casting votes well after the polls had closed.

Only about half of the voting stations were in use adding to the relaxed atmosphere.

Voters using mail in ballots can drop them off at any voting center in Los Angeles County.