East Kern Health Care Board: Macedonio Leads Peralta by Only 38 Votes for Second Seat

CALIFORNIA CITY / EAST KERN, California — November 5, 2026. A special-district election for two seats on the East Kern Health Care District Board of Directors has a reported 38-vote margin at the second-place cutoff. Kern County’s official November 4 election-night results list Leslie O’Neill at 5,165 candidate selections (47.97%), Karen Macedonio at 2,820 (26.19%) and Lois Peralta at 2,782 (25.84%). All figures remain unofficial.

Why this is not a citywide election

The East Kern Health Care District is a separate public entity, not the California City Council. The district’s official website says it was established in 1977 and provides property management for four medical facilities in California City while exploring other regional health needs. Its service area and eligibility for its board election are defined by district boundaries rather than simply by the city’s municipal line.

Two seats, three candidates

Two director positions are open. O’Neill holds the largest reported number of candidate selections, while Macedonio’s 38-vote edge over Peralta occupies the narrow second-place margin. In a vote-for-two election, the shares are fractions of total recorded candidate selections, not percentages of unique people casting ballots. The three candidates together have 10,767 reported selections.

Why an additional batch could matter

The Registrar’s election-night report shows 52 of 52 precincts initially reported for this contest. This does not establish that every legally eligible vote has cleared mail, provisional and signature verification. A 38-selection lead can change, but the source does not specify how many district ballots remain unprocessed; forecasting a winner would be unsupported.

Which documents matter after certification

Residents can review the district’s official transparency page for board documents, budgets, reports and service-area material. Election winners, once certified, will serve on a public governing body with defined health-district responsibilities. California58 does not infer a candidate’s medical, political or financial priorities from an election-night ranking.

Sources: Kern County Elections Division, November 4 at 2:55 a.m. unofficial return; East Kern Health Care District official transparency records. No certified result announced.

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