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School District · Statewide General Election

Merced County Board of Education, Trustee Area 1

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would hold one of five trustee-area seats on the Merced County Board of Education, which sets policy for the Merced County Office of Education -- the office that oversees local school district budgets, runs county-wide special-education and alternative-education programs, and hears expulsion and inter-district-transfer appeals. A 4-year term.

Merced County's Board of Education has an open race for its Trustee Area 1 seat on November 3, 2026: John Magneson faces Peg Larson for the seat left open by sitting trustee Dennis Hanks, who did not file for another term.

The winner serves a 4-year term on the county's 5-member Board of Education, which sets policy for the Merced County Office of Education -- the office that oversees local school district budgets, runs county-wide special-education and alternative-education programs, and hears expulsion and inter-district-transfer appeals from the county's local school districts.

Neither candidate drew any independent news coverage in this pass, and neither has a campaign website or public platform statement that could be found -- this contest rests entirely on the county's own certified candidate-filing record, which supplies each candidate's name and self-selected ballot designation and nothing more. That is a real, honestly-stated information gap, but an even one: it applies equally to both candidates.

John Magneson

John Magneson is a retired educator running for the open Area 1 seat on the Merced County Board of Education, per his filed ballot designation. No campaign website, public platform statement, prior public role, or news coverage of his candidacy was found in this pass.

Strengths

A "Retired Educator" ballot designation, suggesting direct classroom or school-administration experience relevant to the board's work.

Trade-offs

No campaign website, public statement, or news coverage was found in this pass to say what kind of educator he was, where, or for how long.

Keep in mind

Beyond his name, filing date, and ballot designation from the county's own record, this dataset found no independent information about his background or priorities -- an absence, not a judgment.

Peg Larson

Peg Larson is a Merced businesswoman and nonprofit administrator running for the open Area 1 seat, per her filed ballot designation. Her campaign filing lists a Transcounty Title Company email address, consistent with her "Businesswoman" designation, though no independent confirmation of her employer or role could be found. No campaign website, public platform statement, or news coverage of her candidacy was found in this pass.

Strengths

A "Businesswoman / Nonprofit Administrator" ballot designation, suggesting organizational and financial-management experience relevant to the board's budget-oversight role.

Trade-offs

No campaign website, public statement, or news coverage was found in this pass to confirm which business or nonprofit she leads, or her platform.

Keep in mind

Beyond her name, filing date, ballot designation, and a filing-record email address, this dataset found no independent information about her background or priorities -- an absence, not a judgment.

Source review: Strong (85/100) · 3 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • countyofmerced.com (opens in a new tab)Merced County Elections Division -- "November 3, 2026 General Election -- All Contests -- Final Qualified Candidate List" (CFMR009, printed 8/25/2026 3:26:53PM): names John Magneson and Peg Larson for Board of Education Area 1, and Ryan Richard Heller and Guadalupe M. "Lupe" Gonzalez for Area 2, each "On Ballot: Yes."
  • mcoe.org (opens in a new tab)Merced County Office of Education -- "Board of Education" (mcoe.org/superintendent/board-of-education): the office's own current trustee roster, confirming Area 1's sitting member (Dennis Hanks) did not file for another term and that Area 2's sitting member is Ryan Heller.
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS filer search: a client-rendered page that returned no extractable content via this session's tools for any of the four Board of Education candidates -- a documented access block, not evidence about any candidate's actual campaign finances. No Merced County-run local campaign-finance portal could be located either.

Last updated September 2, 2026.