Riverside County final election results certified; deadline for a recount is Dec 8

The Riverside County Registrar of Voters has certified the final election results revealing the official winners of our local races.

Winners in most local races were pretty much already known since early November, but there have been some close races where candidates were separated by just a handful of votes.

One of those races was the Coachella City Council. The top two candidates would go on to fill the empty seats in the council.

Denise Delgado has been in first place since Nov. 4, but the battle for second place between Neftali Galarza and incumbent Emmanuel Martinez was razor-thin most of the time. On Nov. 4, Galarza trailed Martinez by less than 100 votes, but over a week later, he found himself leading by several votes.

In the end, Galarza joines Delgado as one of the city's new councilmembers. Galarza came out ahead of Martinez by just 48 votes.

While the opportunity for a recount remains, Galarza told News Channel 3 and Telemundo 15 that Martinez called him to congratulate him on his election.

Delgado and Martinez will be sworn in at the Council Meeting scheduled for December 9.

The other close race was for the Desert Hot Springs City Council seats. This race was similar to Coachella's, in which the top two would be elected.

Much like in Coachella, the top vote-getter, in this case, incumbent Russell Betts, held a comfortable lead since Nov. 3. The race for second place was tight.

Initially, Jessica D. Gilbert was sitting in second place with Roger V. Nuñez not too far behind. On Nov. 12, the position flipped and Nuñez never looked back.

By certification, Nuñez came out ahead of Gilbert by just 37 votes.

There is no word on whether Gilbert will seek a recount, stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.

For more on the final results in other local races, visit KESQ.com/Election-Results.