Simi Valley Short-Term Council Seat: Jill Abele Leads Joseph Ayala by 78 Votes, Up From Earlier 12-Vote Gap

SIMI VALLEY, California — November 5, 2026. The city’s short-term Council District 1 election remains one of the local contests worth watching in Ventura County. The first California58 election-night overview showed Jill Abele ahead of Joseph Ayala by just 12 votes. A later publicly displayed count shows Abele 2,964 and Ayala 2,886, a margin of 78 votes. That difference has grown, but the election is still unofficial.

Four-candidate District 1 result

In the November 2026 Ventura County results published by NBC Los Angeles, Abele has 38.35% of counted valid candidate votes and Ayala has 37.34%. The other two candidates are Anthony Thompson with 1,275 (16.50%) and Todd Taylor with 603 (7.80%). The top-two margin is narrow in a contest with 7,728 valid selections, so additional ballots may matter.

Short term means a separate office

This particular ballot chooses the representative for a short-term District 1 seat. That is distinct from the regular terms contested in Districts 2 and 4, and also from the mayoral election. Readers should not treat the four district candidates as participants in one citywide at-large election.

The rest of the Simi Valley ballot

In the mayoral count, Mike Judge has 12,661 votes, followed by Kareem Jubran at 9,600 and Dee Cavanaugh at 6,246, with Wayne Holland and Robert Clarizio also running. In District 2, Samuel Cohen is ahead of Richard Perini, 3,788 to 2,850. In District 4, Natalie Christmann leads a four-candidate field with 3,319. The citywide mayoral and separate council elections have different registered-voter populations, meaning turnout and percentage comparisons must reflect each contest’s own boundaries.

Why an election-night lead is not certification

The county can add ballots from eligible late mail, provisional and other legally valid voters after all precincts have reported. Without the specific outstanding-ballot count for District 1, the newsroom cannot conclude that a 78-vote lead is mathematically insurmountable or forecast how it will end. All totals remain preliminary until the official canvass.

Compare with earlier coverage

Read California58’s initial Simi Valley mayoral and council article and Ventura County overview to see how the early District 1 margin differed. The official Registrar results page is the source for future releases.

Source: NBC Los Angeles Ventura County election results, available November 5; earlier California58 timestamped November 4 count; county Registrar. Results not certified.

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