Thousands of ballots for the Fresno Unified Area 5 trustee election were mailed out this week by the Fresno County Elections Office and should be showing up in your mailbox if you live in the Fresno High region.

Voters have several options on how to cast their ballots but need to do so by the deadline on April 12.

Drop boxes in the Fresno High area are available at Bedrosians Tile and Stone, 3567 W. Shaw Ave.; Gillis Library, 629 W. Dakota Ave.; Choice Food Market, 2106 W. Olive Ave.; in the Tower District at Olive and Wishon avenues; and at the Fresno County Clerk’s Office, 2221 Kern St. The deadline to use drop boxes is 8 p.m. April 12.

Voters may also use other county drop boxes, which will be monitored for ballots cast, County Clerk James Kus said.

For those who like in-person voting and want to collect an “I Voted” sticker, ballots may be dropped off now through April 12 during business hours at the County Clerk’s Office, Kus said.

In addition, the county will open voting centers starting April 2 at Fresno High School, 1839 N. Echo Ave. and April 9 at the Central Valley Regional Center, 4615 N. Marty Ave., and Williams Elementary School, 525 W. Saginaw Way. The voting centers are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and weekends through April 12.

On Election Day, the voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. through 8 p.m.

Who’s Running

The candidates are retired teacher Russ Allen, retired firefighter Andrew Fabela, teacher and community organizer Andy Levine, and retired parole administrator Daniel Renteria.

The special election was called after longtime Fresno High Area 5 Trustee Carol Mills died last July. The winner will serve the remainder of Ms. Mills’ term through November 2024.

Kus said that because of the election’s smaller size, certification of the winner likely will occur sooner than the 30-day limit set in state law. The winner will be seated at the first regular board meeting following certification.

GV Wire hosted a candidate forum on March 3 that was attended by three of the four candidates.

The forum is available as an audio download to your mobile device via The GV Wire Podcast channel on all major podcast apps.

Voting Centers, Drop Boxes

Source: Fresno County Clerk’s Office