95% Counted, Mendocino County's Closest Races Still Too Close to Call

UKIAH, Calif. — With about 95% of Mendocino County's ballots now counted, the contest for Ukiah's third and final City Council seat separates two candidates by a single vote.

All 258 of the county's precincts have reported. In the elections office's latest tally, released Nov. 12, Susan Sher held 1,841 votes to Robert Bazzani's 1,840 for the last open Ukiah seat, with Mari Rodin 35 votes back at 1,806. John Strangio led the field with 2,106 votes and Juan V. Orozco followed with 2,022; the three top finishers win seats.

The elections office has counted 32,534 ballots, about 60% of the county's 54,217 registered voters, and reports nearly 1,700 still to process. Those reflected ballots that were cast throughout the county. The office has not said how many belong to any one city, or whether the voters who cast them marked the contested races.

Eight candidates ran for three seats on the Fort Bragg City Council. Jason Godeke led with 1,574 votes and Marcia Rafanan followed at 1,147. The third seat belonged, as of Nov. 12, to Tess Albin-Smith at 1,071, 97 votes ahead of Mary Rose Kaczorowski at 974.

Three seats were on the ballot in the Willits Unified School District. Jeanne King held the last of them by 41 votes, 2,311 to Paula Nunez's 2,270. Nicole Karkar, with 2,743 votes, and Mason Neil Rescina, with 2,450, finished ahead.

In the 3rd District supervisor race, Eric Hart led Buffey Wright Bourassa 2,894 to 2,237. Hart's margin has grown to 657 votes as later ballots were tallied, from about 230 a week earlier.

Three local ballot measures passed: Fort Bragg's Measure B with 76% of the vote, the Coast Life Support District's Measure D with 73%, and Point Arena's Measure C with 74%.

The results are not official. California gives counties 30 days to certify an election, and the elections office has said it will post reports on uncounted ballots each Thursday until the count is final.