For the second time in a row, the Claremont Unified School District Board of Education election has been cancelled due to lack of opposition.

The nomination period closed on Friday, August 10 and since no candidates filed, incumbents Steven Llanusa, Nancy Treser Osgood and Dave Nemer will stay on the board uncontested. The three incumbents will serve four more years.

After board members Jeff Stark and Mary Caenepeel stepped down, Ms. Treser Osgood was first elected to the board in 2013 as the frontrunner, having received 3,174 votes. Mr. Nemer, who also made his first run for the board, came in second with 2,293, followed by Mr. Llanusa who earned his third term on the board with 2,218 votes.

According to the certified results from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, only 4,443 ballots were cast in the 2013 local election by Claremont’s 25,864 registered voters.

Hilary LaConte, who first joined the board in 2007, won her second term in 2011, alongside Beth Bingham. Ms. LaConte was reassigned to her third term after the November 2015 election was also cancelled due to lack of opposition.

Like Ms. LaConte, Beth Bingham was first elected to the school board in 2007, but did not seek re-election in 2011 for personal reasons. With Ms. Bingham stepping down, former school board member Sam Mowbray filed to run, as did former Claremonter Joe Farrell. Mr. Mowbray had previously served from 1993 to 2005 and, after a six-year hiatus from the board, was re-elected.

When the 2015 election was also cancelled, and Mr. Mowbray indicated he would step down, Ms. Bingham was asked to return to the board and Ms. LaConte was assigned to a third term.

As a result of a new state legislation, the CUSD board voted last year to consolidate with general elections, giving each board member a one-year term extension. The next CUSD board election will be held in November 2020, when terms expire for Ms. Bingham and Ms. LaConte.

—Kathryn Dunn

editor@claremont-courier.com