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With over 4,100 Lakewood ballots counted by the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 8, preliminary results show that Todd Rogers, Steve Croft and Cassandra Chase are ahead in the election for three seats in the city’s first-ever by-district council election. More ballots remain to be counted.
Here is the vote count and percentage for each candidate in the three district elections:
District 1:
- Todd Rogers: 79% (1,382 votes)
- Michelle Hamlin: 21% (359 votes)
District 2:
- Steve Croft: 45% (668 votes)
- Laura Sanchez-Ramirez: 31% (460 votes)
- Gregory Slaughter: 25% (368 votes)
District 5:
- Cassandra Chase: 51.38% (447 votes)
- Veronica Lucio: 48.62% (423 votes)
NOTE: This is a General Election, with no runoff, and the top vote-getter for each district will be declared the winner for that district.
As additional provisional and other ballots are counted, the County Registrar will post updates at https://results.lavote.gov. (Go to “Contest,” “Jump To” and scroll down or search for “Lakewood.”)
Updates are expected at least every Tuesday and Friday at 4 p.m. until the County finalizes the vote count, which is expected by July 1. The City of Lakewood will include an update of the results each week in this “Lakewood Connect” eMagazine.
Starting this year, Lakewood is converting from its traditional system, where all five council members were elected at-large by the entire city, to a new district system where each council member is elected by the residents of one of five districts in the city.
Residents in newly created Districts 1, 2 and 5 are electing council members based on the June 7, 2022 election. In 2024, voters in Districts 3 and 4 will elect new council members. Maps of the districts and additional information about the new district election system is available at lakewoodcity.org/districtelections.
Council Members Ariel Pe and Jeff Wood will continue to serve as at-large members until their existing terms end in 2024, and they can run for a new district-based seat at that time.Council Member Vicki L. Stuckey’s existing term ends in 2022, but she lives in District 4, which will not have an election until 2024. She will serve until the June 2022 election results are finalized and council members are sworn in from that election, which is expected to be at the July 12 council meeting. She can then run for a new district-based seat in 2024.
The change to district elections was necessitated by a state law, the California Voting Rights Act, which is leading to hundreds of small and mid-sized cities and school districts having to make this same transition to district elections. In the past, the district system was used primarily just in large cities.
