Downey Unified School District elections (2017)
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Three of the seven seats on the Downey Unified School District Board of Education in California were scheduled to be up for by-district general election on November 7, 2017, but the election was canceled due to lack of opposition. In their bids for re-election, incumbents Martha E. Sodetani, Nancy A. Swenson, and Barbara Rae Samperi ran unopposed for the Trustee Area 1, 5, and 7 seats, respectively. Due to the lack of opposition, the seats did not appear on the ballot, and the incumbents were re-elected by default.[1][2]
The 2017 election followed a 12-year pattern in the district. Since 2007, every incumbent whose term was up for re-election filed to run for another term. No newcomers have been elected to the board since 2005. For information on election trends in the district, click here.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Downey Unified Board of Education consists of seven members elected to four-year terms. Elections are held by district on a staggered basis every November of odd-numbered years. Four seats—Trustee Areas 2, 3, 4, and 6—were up for election on November 3, 2015, and three seats—Trustee Areas 1, 5, and 7—were scheduled to be up for election on November 7, 2017. There was no primary election.[3][4][5]
School board candidates had to be at least 18 years old, residents of the school district, and qualified voters. They could not be employees of the school district while in office.[6] To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file their nomination documents with the Los Angeles County Registar-Recorder/County Clerk by August 11, 2017. Write-in candidates had to file with the county by October 24, 2017.[7]
To vote in this election, citizens of the school district would have had to register by October 23, 2017, if the election had not been canceled.[8] Photo identification was not required to vote in California.[9]
Candidates and results
Trustee Area 1
Results
This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Martha E. Sodetani won re-election by default.[2]
Candidates
Martha E. Sodetani 
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Trustee Area 5
Results
This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Nancy A. Swenson won re-election by default.[2]
Candidates
| Nancy A. Swenson
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Trustee Area 7
Results
This election was canceled due to lack of opposition. Incumbent Barbara Rae Samperi won re-election by default.[2]
Candidates
| Barbara Rae Samperi
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: California elections, 2017
The Downey Unified Board of Education election would have shared the ballot with municipal elections for water and irrigation districts if it had not been canceled.[1]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the November 2017 California school board elections.[10][11]
Endorsements
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
At the time of this election, the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk did not publish school board candidate campaign finance reports online. Ballotpedia staffers requested this information, but the only free method of viewing the files was at their office.
The Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk targeted the end of 2018 to make school board candidate campaign finance reports available online for free. From that point forward, Ballotpedia began including campaign finance data for Los Angeles County school board candidates.[12][13][14]
Reporting requirements
California school board candidates had to file two pre-election campaign finance reports. The first was due on September 28, 2017, and the second was due on October 26, 2017. In addition to those two reports, candidates had to file a semi-annual report on January 31, 2018, if they did not terminate their campaign committees by December 31, 2017.[11]
If candidates did not raise or spend more than $2,000 for their campaigns, they had to file Form 470 instead of the regular campaign finance report on September 28, 2017. They did not have to file any additional campaign finance reports as long as their campaign contributions and expenditures remained under $2,000.[11]
Past elections
To see results from past elections in the Downey Unified School District, click here.
What was at stake?
Election trends
- See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief
No newcomers have been elected to the Downey Unified Board of Education since 2005, when Martha E. Sodetani and Nancy A. Swenson, who ran for re-election in 2017, were first elected to the board. Every incumbent on the board since that election has run and won re-election.
In 2017, all three incumbents were guaranteed to keep their seats as they ran unopposed.
| School board election trends | ||||||
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| Year | Candidates per seat | Unopposed seats | Incumbents running for re-election | Incumbent success rate | Seats won by newcomers | |
| Downey Unified School District | ||||||
| 2017 | 1.00 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| 2015 | 2.00 | 25.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| 2013 | 2.67 | 0.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| 2011 | 1.00 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 0.00% | |
| California | ||||||
| 2015 | 2.01 | 22.95% | 73.77% | 81.11% | 39.34% | |
| United States | ||||||
| 2015 | 1.72 | 35.95% | 70.37% | 82.66% | 40.81% | |
Report a story for this election
Ballotpedia researches issues in school board elections across the United States, but information availability is a challenge for us in many school districts. Please contact us about the issues that impact your local school district. Note that not all submissions may meet Ballotpedia's coverage requirements for inclusion.
Candidate survey
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About the district
The Downey Unified School District is located in Los Angeles County in southwestern California. The county seat is Los Angeles. The county was home to an estimated 10,137,915 residents in 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau.[15] The district was the 56th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 22,698 students.[16]
Demographics
Los Angeles County underperformed compared to California as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2011 and 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 30.3 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 31.4 percent of state residents. During the same time period, the median household income for Los Angeles County was $56,196, compared to $61,818 for the entire state. The percentage of people in poverty in the county was 16.7 percent, while it was 15.3 percent statewide.[15]
| Racial Demographics, 2016[15] | |||
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| Race | Los Angeles County (%) | California (%) | |
| White | 71.0 | 72.7 | |
| Black or African American | 9.1 | 6.5 | |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.5 | 1.7 | |
| Asian | 15.1 | 14.8 | |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0.4 | 0.5 | |
| Two or more races | 3.0 | 3.8 | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 48.5 | 38.9 | |
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Downey Unified School District California election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Downey Unified School District | California | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Candidate List: Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections 11/7/2017," accessed August 12, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Final List Of Qualified Candidates Whose Name Will Not Appear On The Ballot," August 28, 2017
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registar-Recorder/County Clerk, "List of Offices to Be Filled November 7, 2017," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ Downey Unified School District, "Board Members," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ Downey Unified School District, "BP 8120: Election of Members and Terms of Office," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ Downey Unified School District, "BP 8110: Members of the Board of Education," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Candidate Handbook and Resource Guide," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Calendar of Events," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Where and How to Vote," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "2017 County Administered Elections," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 California Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 7, 2017," accessed September 18, 2017
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed July 2, 2014
- ↑ Daniel Anderson, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," October 7, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," January 2, 2018
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Los Angeles County, California; California," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data, file ccd_lea_052_1414_w_0216161a, 2014-2015," accessed November 16, 2016
| Downey Unified School District elections in 2017 | |
| Los Angeles County, California | |
| Election date: | November 7, 2017 (canceled) |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Incumbent, Martha E. Sodetani Trustee Area 5: • Incumbent, Nancy A. Swenson Trustee Area 7: • Incumbent, Barbara Rae Samperi |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
