Orange Unified Board: Four Trustee Areas Report Separate November Election Leads

ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA — NOVEMBER 5, 2026. Orange Unified School District voters had separate governing-board trustee contests in Areas 1, 4, 5 and 7 on November 3. The county’s November 4 results list different candidate leaders in all four areas, with no legal result yet certified. The individual electorate and number of valid votes vary by trustee area. These results are an unofficial snapshot, not a certified winner.

Trustee Area 1: Yamasaki and Kokos

Incumbent Andrea Yamasaki had 27,645 votes (55.5%) compared with Ivan Kokos’s 22,191 (44.5%). The reported lead is 5,454 votes. Do not treat this count as the vote of every family within all Orange Unified attendance boundaries; the trustee seat is separately defined.

Trustee Area 4: three candidates

Incumbent Sara J. Pelly had 26,319 votes (53.1%), followed by Crystal K. Miles with 18,973 (38.2%) and Armando “Mando” Perez-Serrato with 4,319 (8.7%). The three-candidate race has a different denominator from the two-candidate contests in other areas, and it is not correct to pool the totals across areas.

Trustee Areas 5 and 7

In Area 5, incumbent Kristin “Kris” Erickson received 27,862 votes (56.4%) against Chip Ahlswede’s 21,548 (43.6%). In Area 7, incumbent Stephen Glass had 27,297 (55.2%) to Jack Chang’s 22,125 (44.8%). These are separate elections even when the candidate totals appear similar in scale.

How to follow school governance

Orange Unified’s trustees govern matters such as district budgeting, educational priorities, facilities and supervision of district leadership. Its geography can extend outside Orange municipal limits. This distinction is particularly important because Orange city voters also decided Measure I and Measure J, which are city taxes and not school board votes.

What the next count could change

These figures come from the Orange County November 3 general-election results, updated November 4 at approximately 5:02 p.m. Pacific. Legal vote counting continues, including qualified vote-by-mail and provisional ballots and post-election checks. The countywide number of outstanding ballots must not be assumed to belong to a particular small district or to have a known candidate preference. The Orange County Registrar of Voters controls the official canvass and will publish certified totals under the legal schedule. California’s statewide certification follows on December 11. No winner is certified by this article.

California58 local elections desk, November 5, 2026. Primary result source: the Orange County by-race tally accessed November 5, reporting cutoff November 4, 5:02 p.m. All figures unofficial. No endorsement of candidates.

YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER NEEDS YOU

Help this community newspaper grow

Your support helps build coverage for the people and places this local newspaper serves.

Donate once by card ↗

Help Orange News grow Help strengthen reporting on Orange: community voices, important decisions and local life.

Support Orange News

Choose how to support Orange News:

Credit / Debit Card via Stripe

Choose an amount from $1. One-time support through the publisher's LINKERNO Stripe account.

Continue with PayPal Continue with Zelle

Zelle payments go to Vitaly Ataev Troshin. Please verify the recipient in your bank before sending. Availability depends on your bank.

Optional reader support. When possible, add “Orange News” to the payment note. Contributions are not advertised as tax-deductible. Support does not influence editorial decisions.

Optional support through the publisher. Contributions are not advertised as tax-deductible and never buy editorial influence.

Orange News — Your Community Newspaper

Have a correction, news tip, local announcement, or story to submit? Contact our editorial team. All submissions are reviewed before publication.