Union Sweeps Banning School Board: Ellis, Curtis, Cassadas In, Dukes Out

Voters sought change in the recent Banning Unified School District board election, and they got final word on it Wednesday when the Registrar of Voters certified results that confirmed a union sweep of three slots that were up for grabs.

Larry Ellis, Ray Curtis and Alex Cassadas finished 1-2-3 in the certified results, which were announced just before 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Incumbent board member and current president Deborah Dukes finished fourth, just 30 votes behind Cassadas.

The election was held Nov. 8.

Ellis, Curtis and Cassadas were endorsed by the .

With vying for three seats on the five-seat board, the certified results announced Wednesday were:

Larry Ellis                    2,331 votes

Ray Curtis                   2,113 votes

Alejandro Cassadas    1,537 votes

Deborah Dukes           1,507 votes

David Vanden Heuvel     938 votes

Maxine Israel                  688 votes

Alfredo Andrade             398 votes

Each ballot allowed voters to choose three candidates. The registrar reported 9,512 total votes counted in the election, but did not report a total number of ballots counted.