Hollister
– Most of the furor over the Nov. 7 election has died down;
national politicians and the media are turning their attention to
next year’s priorities and policy debates. For some local
candidates, however, the race is far from over.
Hollister – Most of the furor over the Nov. 7 election has died down; national politicians and the media are turning their attention to next year’s priorities and policy debates. For some local candidates, however, the race is far from over.
John Hodges, San Benito County’s registrar of voters, said Monday morning that his department still needs to count some 4,000 absentee ballots. They also have to count provisional ballots and paper ballots that could not be scanned.
“We’re on track,” Hodges said. “Had last Friday not been a holiday, we would be ahead. But we can’t touch the ballots on a holiday.”
The statewide deadline for certification of votes is Dec. 5. Hodges said the county worked Monday to count absentee ballots in the District 4 supervisorial race. Those results were released late Monday.
“That’s the one that people show the most interest in,” Hodges said.
In the most recent count released by the elections office, 11,222 ballots – representing about 46 percent of registered voters – had been counted. Former Pinnacle newspaper publisher Tracie Cone trailed incumbent Supervisor Reb Monaco by 81 votes, 49 percent to 51 percent.
According to Hodges, when the county finishes counting District 4 ballots, “We’ll do the other precincts as they’re handed to us.”
Other races remain uncertain. The most recent results show Measure R, which would raise the city’s sales tax by 1 percent, with 48 percent approval; 52 percent of voters rejected the measure.
Measure S – which would have amended the city’s general plan to pave the way for a Sun City Hollister senior living community – was approved by only 43 percent of voters. But Yes-on-S Campaign Manager Annette Giacomazzi has said she won’t give up until all the votes have been counted.
Hodges said the results for Hollister’s ballot measures should be clear by Friday.
Neighboring counties continue to count their votes as well. An official from Santa Clara County’s elections office said they still have to count 40,000 absentee ballots and 11,000 provisional ballots.
Claudio Valenzuela, Monterey County’s acting registrar of voters, said his staff still has to look at some 20,000 ballots. Valenzuela hopes to be done counting most of the absentee ballots and move on to provisional ballots by Wednesday. Valenzuela added that his goal is to finish counting ballots well before the Dec. 5 certification deadline.
San Benito County has fewer votes left to count than either Santa Clara or Monterey, but as Valenzuela noted, “Your volume is a lot less than ours.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
ah*@fr***********.com
.
