On Tuesday, Nov. 8, the future of the country was in the hands of millions of voters across America. An unanticipated, close presidential race left many sitting on the edge of their seats.
Unlike Foothill’s mock election, Republican candidate Donald Trump pulled a close victory over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Although Clinton won the popular vote, Trump received more electoral votes.
On the state and county level, California and Ventura both voted Clinton by a large margin, similar to Foothill’s mock election.
The 45th president will have the opportunity to appoint at least one Supreme Court Justice during his term.
Like Foothill, California elected democrats to all positions on the ballot. Kamala Harris won the Senate race, Julia Brownley won U.S. representative, Hannah-Beth Jackson won State Senate and S. Monique Limón won State Assembly.
Foothill voted on eight of the 18 propositions on the ballot. California and Foothill agreed to pass Props. 58, 63, 64 and 67. California voted no on Props. 60, 62 and 65, all of which Foothill voted yes for. Foothill voted no on Prop. 66, whereas California voted yes on the proposition.
Similar to Foothill’s mock election, California voted yes on Prop. 58, which will repeal Prop. 227, and allow non-English languages to be used in public education instruction. In both elections, Prop. 58 passed with over 70 percent yes votes.
One of the most widely known propositions, Prop. 64, allowed the legal recreational and medicinal use of marijuana for users over the age of 21. In the California election and Foothill’s mock election, the proposition passed with a 10 percent margin.
Like Foothill, Ventura passed all the local measures on the ballot except for Measure F, which conflicts with Measure C. Both extend the SOAR initiative, each with different modifications, although Measure C extends SOAR into 2050, whereas Measure F would have only extended it until 2036.
The passage of Measure R was particularly important for the schools. It renews the parcel tax that raises about $2.2 million annually for the schools. It was the most widely supported measure in both Foothill and Ventura with yes votes accounting for 93.4 percent and 74 percent of the totals, respectively.
Foothill was considerably more supportive of Measure AA with 81 percent yes compared to Ventura’s 56.1 percent. An overwhelming majority of students also voted yes on Measure O with 83.4 percent, compared to Ventura’s 57.5 percent yes vote.
City Council had three seats up for election. Those will be filled by newcomer Matt LaVere and incumbents Christy Weir and Cheryl Heitmann. LaVere was victorious in Foothill’s mock election, but Weir and Heitmann were not.
As for School Board, candidate Sabrena Rodriguez and Jackie Moran will be the two new members of the Ventura Unified School District School Board. Rodriguez collected the most votes and Moran earned the second spot.
Though most Foothill students were not able to vote, most of their desires were reflected in Ventura and California as a whole.
Correction: A previous version of this article reported Don Wood as the second member-elect of the Ventura Unified School Board. As mail-in and absentee votes were counted throughout November and into December, Jackie Moran emerged as the second member-elect of the Ventura Unified School Board, beating out Don Wood by 213 votes. This correction was added at 11:54 a.m. on December 11.
