Registrar certifies election results

Only 52 votes from the June 7 District 4 Chula Vista City Council election separated a former Chula Vista councilman and retired Escondido firefighter, according to official results released by the county Registrar of Voters Office.

Certified numbers published July 6 have small-business owner and former Councilman Rudy Ramirez and schoolteacher and former firefighter Mike Diaz heading to a runoff Nov. 8.

The results included 100 percent of all 23 precincts reporting with all absentee and provisional ballots counted.

Ramirez, at the front with 27.81 percent of the votes, and Diaz, were the top two finishers in the race for the District 4 seat. District 4 includes the southwest portion of the city. Ramirez received 2,913 votes, and Diaz collected 2,861.

Other District 4 candidates were Eduardo Reyes, principal at Bonita Vista Middle School and president of the Chula Vista Elementary School Board, and Emmanuel Soto, a teacher in the Chula Vista Elementary School District and Chula Vista parks and recreation commissioner. Reyes received 2,716 votes, trailing Diaz by 145 votes.

This council election represents the first in the city’s history for candidates to be elected by geographic district rather than at-large.

Chula Vista residents living in District 3, the city’s southeast area, will vote for either Steve Padilla or Jason Paguio in November.

Elections for Districts 1 and 2 will be in 2018.