UPDATE: The City of Holbrook has released the official condensed abstract of the primary election votes showing the following results from 584 ballots with five ballots rejected:
Earl Kester with 343 votes; Richard Peterson, 303; Wade Carlisle, 298; Armando Aguilera Sr., 239; Louis Baldonado Jr., 178; Frank Lucero, 169; and Paul Garcia, 91.
The official canvassing of the votes will take place during the Tuesday, March 28, Holbrook City Council meeting.
Citizens of Holbrook have shown that they are pleased with the work of the incumbents in Tuesday’s city council election. According to the unofficial results, all three were voted back into office by a wide margin. The total number of ballots cast was 539, with three ballots rejected and 45 yet to be verified.
Incumbent Earl Kester was the top vote-getter in the race for three seats with 323 votes, followed by Richard Peterson with 285; Wade Carlisle, 280; Armando Aguilera, 215; Louis Baldonado Jr., 160; Frank Lucero, 154; and Paul Garcia, 86.
Kester, Peterson and Carlisle each received more than 50 percent plus one of the total votes and will be sworn back into office in late May.
Those unverified votes would likely not have an effect on the outcome of the election as the next highest vote getter, Aguilera, would need more votes than the 45 votes to clear the 50 percent requirement.
The city had intended to put the matter of a property tax increase to the voters in a General Election in May but with the outcome of the election, the city is now undecided as to whether or not to move forward due to the high cost of hosting an election.
