Bakersfield voters cast ballots Tuesday to pick a new City Council member for Ward 3, a seat Councilman Ken Weir is vacating at the end of his term. Early unofficial returns showed Cassie Bittle out front, but election officials were still counting votes well after polls closed at 8 p.m.
As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, Bittle led the race with about 33.5% of total votes, while Kern County prosecutor Pedro Naveiras ranked second with 28.2%, according to KGET 17 News. The outlet reported that election officials were waiting for the final vote count, and the results available do not establish a winner in the race.
An earlier snapshot from the first ballot drop, reported by turnto23.com, had Bittle with 2,460 votes, or roughly 33% of Ward 3 ballots counted at that point, with Naveiras at 2,080 votes, about 28%. Kathryn Halling, a former math teacher turned bookkeeper, trailed close behind with 1,950 votes, or about 26%, the station reported.
A Crowded Field Narrows By One
The Ward 3 race initially drew five candidates — Bittle, Halling, Seth Hewett, Juan Carlos “JC” Llamas and Naveiras. Hewett, 26, later withdrew from the race and threw his support behind Bittle, a Bakersfield native, the station's report notes. That shift left some election-night coverage describing four candidates in the contest, even as the first-ballot tally still reflected five names on the ballot.
At that first ballot drop, Llamas, described as a local business owner and MMA fighter, had 513 votes, or roughly 7%, per the same account. Hewett himself still pulled 347 votes, about 5%, in that same early count, despite having already dropped out and endorsed Bittle.
Endorsements Shaped the Campaign
Bittle entered election night with support from Rep. Vince Fong and state Sen. Shannon Grove, in addition to Hewett's late endorsement. Halling, meanwhile, picked up backing from local groups including the Bakersfield police and fire associations.
Naveiras ran on a platform focused on quality-of-life issues in the ward, according to a prior bakersfield.com profile, while Halling's campaign centered on city finances. Hewett's decision to drop out and back Bittle was reported by bakersfield.com ahead of the election.
Counting Continues Across Kern County
Turnout and the pace of counting loomed large on election night. One account from the watch parties noted that only about 16 of the county's 62 precincts had reported results by that point, with Ward 3 candidate Pedro Naveiras saying they still had a lot of votes left to count, according to turnto23.com's report.
Kern County had said ahead of the election that live results would be available after polls closed at 8 p.m. Pacific time, and the county also made livestreams of its ballot-holding areas available for public viewing, per the Kern County elections office. The seat Bittle, Naveiras, Halling and Llamas are vying for will be newly open, since Weir said he would not seek re-election this year after 20 years representing Ward 3 on the City Council.
