In Mendocino County: Uncounted Ballots and Called Races

UKIAH, Calif. — Nearly half the ballots Mendocino County voters cast in Tuesday's election still haven't been counted, leaving closely contested city council races and the 3rd District seat on the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors in limbo. But the races for state Assembly, state Senate, and the House of Representatives have been decided.

All went to Democrats, and none was close. Chris Rogers held the 2nd Assembly District. Damon Connolly won the open 2nd Senate District that Mike McGuire is vacating. McGuire won a seat of his own in the 1st Congressional District, which takes in about two-thirds of the county's voters, and Rep. Jared Huffman was reelected in the redrawn 2nd Congressional District, which covers the rest.

Back home, the count is far from over. Roughly 32,350 ballots have been cast — about 60% of the county's 54,217 registered voters — but the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder's office has counted only 17,607 of them so far, a little more than half. The office reported 14,749 ballots left to process as of Nov. 5, including 1,214 provisional and conditional ballots. It has tabulated no additional ballots since Nov. 3 and does not expect its next results release until 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13. Under state law, the county cannot certify final results for 30 days.

That leaves the county's closest races unresolved. In the 3rd District supervisor contest, Eric Hart leads Buffey Wright Bourassa 1,414 votes to 1,186, a margin of 54.4% to 45.6%. But only 2,956 ballots have been counted in the district, and the elections office estimates roughly 3,400 ballots there are still to be processed — more than the total counted to date.

The Ukiah City Council race, with three seats open, is tightly bunched. Juan V. Orozco leads with 15.6%, followed by Susan Sher at 15.2% and Mari Rodin at 15.0% for the third seat. John Strangio trails Rodin by 14 votes at 14.8%, with Robert Bazzani (13.6%) and Matt Froneberger (12.6%) close behind. About 1,600 city ballots remain to be counted.

The eight-candidate Fort Bragg City Council race, also for three seats, has Jason Godeke in front with 24.1%, Marcia Rafanan second at 17.7%, and Tess Albin-Smith holding the third seat at 16.8%. Mary Rose Kaczorowski is 61 votes back at 15.1%, with Scott J. Mayberry at 14.0%. Roughly 1,100 Fort Bragg ballots are still outstanding.

Voters whose ballots were flagged for a mismatched or missing signature, or for a missing first-time voter ID — 178 ballots countywide — can still fix the problem, the elections office said; signature-cure documents should be returned as soon as possible. The office will post updated unprocessed-ballot reports each Thursday afternoon until the results are certified.

The legislative and congressional races, by contrast, were not close. In the 2nd Assembly District, incumbent Chris Rogers was reelected with 70.9% of the district-wide vote to Republican Mike Greer's 29.1%. Damon Connolly took the open 2nd Senate District with 74.9% to Republican Tief Gibbs's 25.1%. Mike McGuire won the open 1st Congressional District with 55.5% to Republican James Gallagher's 44.5%, and incumbent Jared Huffman won the redrawn 2nd Congressional District with 66.1% to Republican Robin Littau's 33.9%, according to the California Secretary of State's count with all precincts reporting. In Mendocino County, Connolly and Rogers each drew about 70% of the vote, McGuire took 62.6% of the county's portion of his district, and Huffman took 80.5% of the county's portion of his.

Of the 14 statewide propositions on the ballot, six have been called, according to CalMatters and the Associated Press. Mendocino County's vote tracked the statewide result on each:

• Proposition 1, authorizing up to $11.25 billion in state borrowing for housing construction, much of it for rental and affordable units, passed. Mendocino backed it 65.4% to 34.6%.
• Proposition 2, allowing the state to set aside more money in its rainy-day reserve fund, passed. Mendocino supported it 65.5% to 34.5%.
• Proposition 3, making permanent a 2012 income-tax surcharge on earners above $360,000 to fund K-12 schools, passed. Mendocino approved it 66.7% to 33.3%.
• Proposition 37, creating a state fund to lend to middle-income homebuyers, passed. Mendocino approved it 64.1% to 35.9%.
• Proposition 39, which would have required voters to show proof of citizenship at the polls or provide a government-issued ID number when registering for mail-in ballots and provide the last four digits of the unique identifying number when voting, failed. Mendocino rejected it 67.9% to 32.1%.
• Proposition 44, which would have required health clinics to spend at least 90% of their revenue on patient care, failed. Mendocino rejected it 88.6% to 11.4%.

The remaining eight measures were closer and still being decided, among them Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on billionaires' net worth, and Proposition 45, which would modify the state's landmark CEQA environmental-review law.

For live statewide results on all 14 propositions as the count continues, follow CalMatters' tracker: California election results: All 14 ballot propositions.