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  • Elections Office: nearly 20,000 ballots still to be counted

    Elections Office: nearly 20,000 ballots still to be counted

    Updated Nov. 12, 10:16 p.m.–
    Following a close race, or just want to know which ballots are left to be counted?

    vote counting
    Minutes after polls closed, workers at a Citrus Heights precinct count up still-sealed vote-by-mail ballots dropped off on election day.

    The Sacramento County Registrar of Voters office estimates it still has around 19,000 unprocessed vote-by-mail and provisional ballots left to count — with additional votes possibly swinging the final outcome for close races like San Juan Unified School District’s board election, where Michael McKibbin currently holds less than a one percent lead over Michael Miller.

    Understanding the vote-count process:

    Numbers released on election night are part of what’s called a “semifinal official canvass,” and include only “tallying of early-returned vote-by-mail ballots,” as well as any ballots cast in-person at a voting precinct, according to the California Secretary of State’s (SOS) website. Legally, officials can begin counting early-returned ballots seven days prior to the election.

    Following this initial canvass, an “official canvass” must be completed within 28 days of the close of the election, during which election officials will process and count provisional ballots cast on election day, as well as any valid vote-by-mail ballots that were received on election day — or ones received prior to election day, but not counted in time to be included in the initial canvass.

    The numbers of additional ballots counted after election night can be significant, as one precinct in Citrus Heights reported 201 ballots cast in-person at the polls on November 4, and 107 vote-by-mail ballots dropped off.

    Statewide, ballots not included in the semifinal election-night results can be as many as 500,000 to 1,000,000, according to the SOS website.

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    More information about the vote-counting process in California can be found out: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/official-canvass.htm

  • RESULTS: voters re-elect Citrus Heights council; Schaefer trails by 3%

    Updated 11:21 a.m. —
    Voters in Citrus Heights gave a nod of approval to their current city councilmembers Tuesday, with all three incumbents leading challengers by 3 percent or more, according to the latest election results from the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters.
    ELECTION_Cityresults2014“IT’S OFFICIAL: 3/3 Gets the job done,” incumbent Steve Miller posted on his Facebook page around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, with 65 out of 65 voting precincts reporting. “Thank you for your votes and kind support.”

    Jeannie Bruins staked out a significant lead above the rest, gaining 25 percent of the vote, with Mel Turner coming in second with 22 percent. Steve Miller is in third place, beating challenger Tim Schaefer by about 800 votes, as of the latest County numbers released at 12:33 a.m., Wednesday.

    Public disclosure filings show Turner received the most total contributions this year, reporting over $21,000, with Miller reporting slightly over $12,000 and Bruins around $10,000. Schaefer came in far behind, reporting total contributions of just $3,250 and Bridget Duffy announced early on she was intentionally not raising funds.

    In mailers and public statements, incumbents largely focused on their past record, while challengers distinguished themselves by opposition to a new city hall building and criticism of incumbents for supporting a 2012 tax measure.

    More than 12,000 undervotes have been reported so far for the council race, with undervotes occurring when a voter skipped over the city council part of their ballot, or selected just one or two candidates instead of the full three selections allowed in the race. Undervotes for local races are typically high, as past election results indicate many voters only make a choice in well-known national and statewide races and choose to leave other “down-ticket” races blank.

    Poll workers at a precinct near Old Auburn Road and Mariposa Avenue said voter turnout was higher than in the June Primary election, and said about two-thirds of voters on their list were vote-by-mail. An election report for the precinct showed 201 voters cast a ballot in-person on Tuesday, and an additional 107 vote-by-mail ballots were dropped off during the election.

    Although ballots mailed in early have already been counted, vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at the polls, as well as others like provisional ballots, are still to be counted.

    Elected councilmembers will each serve a term of four years on the five-member city council. The other two members currently on the council will be up for election in 2016.

    *Editor’s note: stay tuned for more exclusive local election coverage.

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    Did you vote in Tuesday’s election? Take a minute to answer our anonymous, 4-question election survey:
    http://bit.ly/ElectionSurveyCitrusHeights