Incumbent Jill Humpherys is the early leader to return to a board seat for Gilbert Public Schools.
Humpherys has 30% of the vote. Newcomer Chad Thompson is settled into the second spot, just behind Humpherys at 29%, ahead of Collette Evans (22%) and Trina Jonas (20%). Thompson is 230 votes behind Humpherys.
"Public education is a cornerstone of our representative democracy," Humpherys said by text. "I am grateful that voters recognize my commitment to our GPS students and their education."
Thompson, who spent Tuesday night in a small gathering of friends, said he realizes a lot of votes remain to be counted and he will wait till they are finalized.
"I'm probably going to catch up on some work that got neglected over the past week and keep an eye on the numbers and try not to get obsessed with them and focus some on my family, who definitely deserves my attention," he said.
The four candidates are vying for two seats on the governing board.
Board Member Charles Santa Cruz decided not to run for reelection.
The count was 59,129 in the Wedneday night drop of results with a turnout of 45.85%. Final official results may not be known until Friday. Results become official upon the acceptance of the canvass.
Tom Blodgett Senior News Editor | Gilbert @sp_blodgett
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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