Direct Primary Election results expected to take up to 30 days

The winners in many of the June 7 Statewide Direct Primary Election races won't be immediately determined. As of Thursday morning, Placer County Elections Office staff said, 39,000-plus ballots had been counted. About 80,000 more ballots from the mail and from other counties where Placer County voters voted are expected to arrive at the Placer County Elections Office. Counting ballots cast by Placer County voters in the June 7 Statewide Direct Primary Election races could take up to three weeks to be official. By state law, every county Elections Office has the following 30 days to verify the ballots. "I do not expect us to have a clear picture by Wednesday. We are hearing that we have light polling place voting," said Placer County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar of Voters Ryan Ronco on Tuesday afternoon, "but very heavy vote by mail ballot returns at the polls and at drop boxes. Depending on how many we get, we could be counting those ballots for one week to three weeks." The final Statement of Vote could have more than 20,000 additional votes over the total counted on Election Night Tuesday, mostly from vote by mail ballots received on Election Day, according to the Election Office. And the votes have to be verified before official results are announced. Verifying the ballots includes the process of comparing the signature on the outside of the vote by mail ballot envelope to the signature that the voter provided on their voter registration card. It also includes making sure that conditional voter registration and provisional ballots are eligible to be counted by making sure the voter is legitimate, registered nowhere else in California and has not already voted. Finally, verifying the ballots includes making sure the voting machines programmed and deployed to each precinct counted the ballots accurately by auditing the machines and verifying counts with a hand count of a random percentage of precincts. "We will continue to count ballots until we are finished and we have confirmed the machines we programmed before the election counted the ballots correctly," Ronco said. "This should take at least two weeks, although state law gives us 30 days to conduct this post-election canvass of results." As is done every Election Day in California, county election offices released results for all tabulated ballots right after 8 p.m. Election Night Tuesday. The first ballots counted were vote by mail ballots received early. The first receiving center trucks from the polling places arrived about 10 p.m. Tuesday to the Elections Office in Auburn. Polling place ballot tabulation would continue until completed, the Elections Office staff said Tuesday, which usually occurs by 1 a.m. Placer County has 146 polling places. While the June 7 Statewide Direct Primary Election has several state and federal seat primaries, it also has several Placer County races, which could ultimately be decided on this ballot. Running for Placer County Supervisor, District 2, are Scott Alvord, Paul Joiner and Shanti Landon. Alvord is a Roseville City Council member, Joiner is a Lincoln City Council member and Landon works for the current supervisor. Voters will choose Placer County's assessor, clerk-recorder-registrar and Sheriff-Coroner-Marshal in the June 7 Statewide Direct Primary Election. Placer County Supervising Appraiser Sam Sherrod challenges appointed incumbent Matt Maynard in the race for assessor. Amanda Cofran, IT business analyst, challenges current Placer County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar of Voters Ronco. Appointed Placer County Undersheriff Wayne Woo faces off against Administrative Sgt. Brandon Bean in the Placer County Sheriff-Coroner-Marshal race. County offices which are not contested this election include Superintendent of Schools (Gayle Garbolino-Mojica), Auditor-Controller (Andrew Sisk), District Attorney (Morgan Gire) and Treasurer-Tax Collector (Tristan Butcher). If they receive 50 percent plus one vote, they will begin their next terms in 2023. Jason Paletta, Joe Patterson, Rebecca L. Chenoweth and Greg Smith are running in the State Assembly's 5th Assembly District race. Paletta is a police officer, Patterson is a Rocklin City Councilman, Chenoweth is an attorney/COO and Smith is a small-business owner. Since state assembly races extend into other counties, Ronco told Gold Country Media on Tuesday, there's a likelihood that some counties could finish counting but the results won't be officially known until all of the counties have certified their results. In the primary categories, the top two candidates (regardless of party affiliation) will face off in the November General Election. Initial ballot counts The first ballot counts, released at 8:03 p.m. Tuesday, only included vote by mail ballots turned in early enough for the Placer County Elections Office to perform signature verification, open and run through tabulators. These numbers do not include polling place results. Placer County Supervisor District 2 count, as of Tuesday night * Shanti Landon.- 3,419 * Scott Alvord - 2,555 votes * Paul Joiner - 1,745. A majority of 50 percent of the vote plus one is needed to avoid a runoff election in November. State Assembly's 5th Assembly District count, as of Tuesday night * Rebecca L. Chenoweth - 13,391 * Joe Patterson - 8,560 * Jason Paletta - 4,121 * Greg Smith - 1,389. The Placer County Elections Office will update vote counts every Tuesday and Friday until all of the vote-by-mail ballots received just before and on Election Day are processed. For more information, visit placercountyelections.gov.