The candidate filing period is drawing closer with opportunities for residents to step and become candidates.

Four of seven seats on the Ceres Unified School District Board of Trustees will be up for grabs in the November election.

Three seats on the Ceres City Council are also opening up/.

The seats of CUSD Trustee Area 2 (Cynthia Ruiz), 3 (Valli Wigt), 5 (Lourdes Perez) and 6 (Dave McConnell) are expiring at the end of the year and will be filled by voters within the CUSD boundaries on Nov. 3.

Trustee area maps are available for viewing online by visiting the website www.ceres.k12.ca.us, clicking on the Board of Trustees tab at the top, then on Trustee District Information, then on Trustee District Assignment Information.

The filing period begins Monday, July 13 and ends at 5 p.m. on August 7 in order for a candidate’s name to be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot. If the incumbent does not file to run, the candidate filing period for that office is extended to Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Voters residing within the Ceres city limits in Districts 1 and 2 will be electing a council representative. The terms of District 1 Ceres City Councilman James Casey and District 2 Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra are expiring. Casey said he does not plan to seek re-election but his seat has already attracted interested candidates in Ceres Planning Commissioners Gary M. Condit and Dorie Perez.

Prospective city candidates must get in touch with City Clerk Fallon Martin for nomination papers and receive instructions on how to adhere to campaign finance reports.

To qualify as a candidate for Ceres City Council, one must reside within the respective Ceres City Council district and be a registered voter in the district they are running in. Candidates must pick up nomination papers, which must be signed by no less than 20 and no more than 30 signatures of registered voters living within the city limits. Candidates are advised to get a few more than 20 signatures in case the county finds out that “nominators” are actually not registered voters. The city clerk handles the process nomination papers but the county conducts the election.

Next year three Ceres City Council seats will be up for grabs with the expiration of the terms of Mayor Javier Lopez, and councilmembers Cerina Otero and Daniel Martinez.

In the city of Hughson, the two-year term of Mayor George Carr is up for grabs as are the council seats of Randy Crooker and Julie Ann Strain.

Voters in Division 2 of the Turlock Irrigation District will be deciding on who the board director should be. The term of David Yonan will be expiring at year’s end. Yonan won the seat over Wayne Zipser in 2022. District 2 covers Ceres.

Other TID directors whose terms expire this year are Joe Alamo (Division 3) and Ron Macedo (Division 5).

Other seats open include:

• Three seats on the Stanislaus County Board of Education. They are occupied by Kim Rose in Area 1; Alice Pollard in Area 2; and Chinyere Nnodim Jack in Area 5.
• Three seats on the Hughson Unified School District Board of Trustees occupied by Alida Garcia (Area 2), Randall “Randy” Heckman (Area 4) and Mark Foss (Area 5).
• Three seats on the Keyes Union School District Board of Trustees occupied by Jimmy Emmons, Sr. (Area 2), Jeff Reed (Area 3) and Wesley A. Greene (Area 5).
• Three seats on the Yosemite Community College District Board of Trustees occupied by Don Davis (Area 1), Nancy Hinton (Area 2), and Jenny Nicolau (Area 4).
• Three seats on the Keyes Community Service District board occupied by directors Shannon Williams and Johnathon Parker and one seat vacant.
• Three seats on the Monterey Park Tract Community Service District Board occupied by directors Jerry Tyrone McKinney, Dean Riddle and Bettie J. Yelder.
• Two seats on the Hughson Fire Protection District occupied by directors Gus Villarreal and Miguel Oseguera.
• Two seats on the Westport Fire Protection District occupied by Ross Lee and Ed Amador.

State offices

Ceres’ next representative in the state Assembly will be incumbent Juan Alanis who had no challenger in the 22nd Assembly District.

In the 4th state Senate race, voters will be deciding between Jaron Brandon, a Democrat, and Alexandra Duarte, a Republican. Incumbent State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil lost the primary election by falling in third place.

California voters will be deciding if Democrat Xavier Becerra or Republican Steve Hilton should be the next governor.

Congress

Voters in the 13th Congressional District have a choice between Adam Gray (D) and Kevin Lincoln (R).