Thousands of Oxnard voters drop off their ballots prior to Election Day

UPDATE – [5/1/18 at 10:30 p.m.]

The City of Oxnard has released the latest poll numbers. According to the unofficial results, no one has been recalled.

Residents so far have voted to not recall Tim Flynn, Bert Perello, Carmen Ramirez, and Oscar Madrigal.

Results can be found here.

Will Oxnard get a new mayor? Voters make that decision on Tuesday in a special recall election, but many have already dropped off their ballots.

On the ballot is the recall of 3 out of 4 city councilmembers and the mayor, Tim Fynn.

The push came after thousands of residents became upset the council voted to raise the fees on wastewater.

“I voted against the recall,” said resident, Peter Bellin. “It’s a waste of money and I’m offended. People don’t stop and think these people really have the best interest at heart. I think they work pretty hard.”

Other voters, like Juanita Kiefer, are hoping for a change to the council.

“They don’t do anything for us they just cost us more money,” said Kiefer. “I just hope for it to be better than it has been for the last several years.”

The city is training more than 100 volunteers to work at 28 polling places across Oxnard and Albert Ramierez is one of them.

It’s his fifth time volunteering as a clerk.

“We handle all of the ballots and we count them at the end of the day and it’s an experience,” said Ramierez. “It’s very hectic but time goes by and its fun.”

The city clerk’s office says it’s getting inundated with calls of questions from people on how to fill out their ballot, since the special election ballot is different than a primary or general election. City Clerk, Michelle Ascencion says it’s a two-part process.

“There is a question if this person should be removed from office ‘yes or no’ and the second part is you are going to choose a successor candidate in case there are enough yes votes on the recall part of it,” said Ascencion. “They will do this four times for each of the offices.”

Out of the 80,000 registered voters in the city, 7,000 have already turned in their ballot.

“I’ve been hearing a lot from both sides and in-between,” said Ascencion. “It’s all kinds of different opinions out there and really it’s up to the voters. Whatever direction they go in is what direction the city will be in.”

Unofficial results will be announced Tuesday night. To find a polling place near you, please visit Oxnard.org.