Gateway school board election results: Casey Bowden maintains big lead over Camille King
Voters in the Gateway Unified School District went to the polls on Tuesday to decide on race to fill a vacant seat on the Board of Education.
The seat has been vacant since February, when board president Cherrill Clifford resigned amid controversy over the termination of the district's superintendent.
Follow the Record Searchlight/Redding.com throughout the night for election results and updates.
With all precincts reporting, Bowden holds commanding lead
With all precincts reporting, it appears that Casey Bowden is on his way to victory for the open seat on the Gateway Unified School District Board.
Bowden has collected 57.88% of the vote. Camille King has 42.12% percent of the vote.
Tuesday's results are unofficial.
Votes left to be counted include provisional ballots, ballots still in the mail, vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at precincts and damaged ballots.
Shasta County election officials hope to certify the results by Nov. 22.
Bowden maintains lead over King with precincts reporting
With all but one precinct reporting, Casey Bowden maintained his lead over Camille King for the vacant seat on the Gateway Unified School District Board.
Bowden has 58% percent of the vote. King has 42% of the vote.
"I am really happy and I feel like it's a win for the whole community," Bowden said. "This wasn't just my election, this was for everybody out there and everybody in the district. I am just super happy, is all I can really say right now."
Bowden thanked all his supporters.
Bowden has early lead to fill vacant seat
In an election to fill a vacant seat on the Gateway Unified School District board of trustees, Casey Bowden jumped out to an early lead Tuesday night.
The first batch of ballots tallied showed Bowden with 58.76% of the vote to Camille King’s 41%.
The early voting results came from mail-in ballots, drop boxes and those who voted at the elections office downtown before 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Original story
Tuesday's election will fill a seat on the Gateway Unified School District board of trustees that has been vacant since February when former board president Cherill Clifford resigned during controversy over firing the board's superintendent and hiring his replacement.
With a four-member board, trustees have been unable to move forward on some important issues because of 2-2 votes.
The election for a new Area 2 trustee Tuesday springs from trustees' inability to agree on who would replace former board President Cherill Clifford.
Follow the results here: 2023 Shasta County local election results
The board interviewed numerous candidates to replace Clifford. But each time they voted on an applicant, the issue ended in a 2-2 draw, which meant the proposal to appoint a replacement failed.
So, voters living in the district's Area 2 will decide who replaces Clifford, who was elected last year but served less than two months of her term.
Whoever receives the most votes — Casey Bowden or Camille King — will get the opportunity to break the board's decision-making logjam.
The Gateway school district covers a large geographic area, stretching from north Redding to the Siskiyou County line and includes Lake Shasta and the community of Lakehead. The Area 2 district also covers the central portion of the district and includes much of central part of the city of Shasta Lake.
Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Gateway school board election results: Bowden still leads King
