Candidates speak on IID special election
The campaign is coming to a close for candidates running for the Imperial Irrigation District Director in Imperial Valley.
Early voting began this past weekend and the polls will open Tuesday.
News 11’s Nico Payne caught up with the candidates who are running.
“Well it’s still irritating to have somebody call me up at my home and telling me that their 36 years old, that she has the most experience. But beyond that I have presented a plan on how we can solve the Salton Sea with an economically viable solution that can improve the economy of Imperial Valley. And I would say vote for Blake Miles if you want to improve the economy of Imperial Valley,” said Blake Miles, Candidate for IID Division I Director.
“I’ve been involved, I’ve served two terms. As far as being qualified, I’m very qualified for the position because I’ve been there eight years. I know exactly how the system run, and when you look at a 300 million dollar company, you got to know what you’re doing, and I do my homework I’m retired, I have all the time in the world now. I feel that I am pretty well qualified compared to the candidates that I am running against,” said Anthony Gallegos, Candidate for IID Division I Director.
“My final message to the voters is that this is a really important election, it definitely is going to be depending of the future of all of the rate payers in El Centro, in all of the seven cities of Imperial County. I have three issues, number one the Salton Sea, number two, jobs, and number three, looking at the potential for other renewables and bringing a larger economic development into Imperial County. I think the board has a great opportunity to focus on those three things, those would be my true north and I would definitely start working on those issues on day one,” said Juanita Salas, Candidate for IID Division I Director.
“I very much like folks to consider the issues that are so important, I think this a complex position, a very important office to hold, I think it is where experience really does count and I’m hoping that we got our message out to people that we are experience candidate and I am looking forward to working with the IID,” said Ed Snively, Candidate for IID Division I Director.
We were able to speak to the Registrar of Voters about the results coming in so far and she said number were low, which is usual for a special election.
“We sent out a little over 6,000 ballots, as of a couple of hours ago we have 1,600 plus, not much plus, but plus ballots that have been returned,” said Debbie Porter, Registrar of Voters.
The polls are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday).
