Natomas School Board Race Remains Tight

STAFF REPORT
THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz

Preliminary vote tallies from the Natomas Unified School District special election show former board member Scott Dosick holding a narrow lead in the six-way race.

Initial results saw candidate Dosick with nine votes over candidate Brenda Borge. These results were Vote by Mail and Vote Center ballots that were returned before Election Day.

The second report, included results from the Vote Centers on Election Day, saw Dosick continuing to lead with 301 votes followed by candidates Amir Khan with 294 votes and Borge with 287 votes.

Voter turnout to fill the vacant board member seat representing Trustee Area 4 in the district was hovering at 12% on Election Day with fewer than 100 people voting in person by 7 p.m., an hour before the polls closed, according to workers at the North Natomas Library vote center.

A county elections spokesperson said about 2,500 ballots remain to be processed for both school board special elections, but it was not known how many of those were for the Natomas Unified special election. These ballots include those sent by mail as well as mail-in ballots dropped off at voting centers on Election Day.

A vote update is scheduled to be released at 4 p.m. today, Nov. 9.

Six candidates were on  the ballot for the school district’s Trustee Area 4 seat which has been vacant since April 2023, when Cindy Quiralte resigned less than five months into a four-year term.

In May, the remaining four Natomas Unified school board members voted to hold a special election to fill the vacant seat for the remainder of Quiralte’s term, rather than create a short-term appointment until the 2024 election.

According to a school district spokesperson, the estimated cost to Natomas Unified for the special election is $135,508.