Three seats on the Kern County Board of Supervisors were on the ballot on Super Tuesday. The county elections office still needs to count vote by mail, provisional and conditional ballots but according to votes counted overnight, the seats of supervisor District 1, District 4, and District 5 appear to be decided.
For the District 1 seat, Philip Peters leads with 52-percent of the votes against his two opponents.
"The last few years I've been working for Supervisor Mike Gleason," said Peters. "So I've had a lot of experience with the issues the first district is facing so we will hit the ground running with day one and keep Kern County great."
In District 5, incumbent Leticia Perez, who has held the position for 7 years, is leading with 58-percent of the votes against four opponents.
"Our work hasn't stopped," said Perez. "We're always working hard for the 5th District and Kern County and making sure we're on the edge of best practices and results-based solutions."
Perez has faced controversy during her tenure for conflict of interest issues and has been criticized for her approach to the homeless issue in the district, which includes downtown Bakersfield.
"Homelessness has always been concentrated in the 5th District," said Perez. "Unfortunately the low barrier is the answer to that."
The District 4 seat appears to be the closest race for a board of supervisors seat with David Couch leading with 61-percent of the votes against Emilio Huerta at 43-percent of the votes.
"I'm appreciative of the results we've seen so far," said Couch. "Hopefully it holds with all this ballot nonsense that goes on, but thank you for being there for me so far."
Huerta's residency in Delano has been part of the controversy during his race for the District 4 position.
"People know me. They knew me when I was a child growing up in Delano but I'm a resident of Kern County first and I just happen to live in Delano," said Huerta.
In California, voters are able to send mail-in ballots up to three days after election day so it could be weeks before final votes are tallied. But if results stay the way they are there won't be another race for the Kern County Board of Supervisors seats in November.
