Pratton wins second Galt City Council seat by a straw after vote tie with Rodriguez

The race for a Galt City Council seat came down to a draw of straws Tuesday night after two candidates deadlocked when the last of the ballots were tallied.

The final tally set the stage. Bonnie Rodriguez and Mathew Pratton collected 3,882 votes a piece, out of 13,684 ballots cast, according to Sacramento County elections officials. The maxim remains the same: Every vote counts.

The showdown for the second seat on the city council between Rodriguez, a former publisher of the hometown Galt Herald; and Pratton, a former Galt Joint Union High School District trustee, took place at 5:40 p.m. before the City Council meeting at Galt City Hall.

“Whoever wins this, Galt will be well served,” Rodriguez, who had erased an early Pratton lead to force the tie, said before the deciding draw. “We see good things continuing to come into the community and all of us just want to serve Galt.”

The tiebreaker took minutes. Pratton picked first and won the draw with a longer straw, securing the four-year term over Rodriguez.

“I’m just really glad it didn’t get dragged out into some long, drawn out mess,” Pratton, still holding the winning green straw outside the council chambers, told reporters after the draw. “Bonnie and Tim are both great people and great candidates, so it’s just a flip of the coin.”

Pratton will be sworn in Dec. 17.

“When I saw him pull out that long straw, I said, ‘Hmm,’ Rodriguez said. “He’s going to serve the city well. I’m happy for him. He’s very well versed in the city.”

Top vote-getter Tim Reed, a disaster services division chief for the California Emergency Medical Services Authority, comfortably won the first seat on the council with 5,870 votes or 43% of the vote.

The candidates vied to succeed Galt Council members Jay Vandenburg and Kevin Papineau, whose four-year terms expire this month.

This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 2:45 PM.

Darrell Smith

The Sacramento Bee

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Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.