Ballots still coming in as Supe incumbents hope to retain seats

Ballots are still being processed in Placer County this week as Board of Supervisor incumbents hope to retain their seats and avoid a November campaign. As of Tuesday evening, the Placer County Elections office reported still having approximately 25,000 ballots to process after reporting results from 107,000 processed ballots. The next update to their results is scheduled Friday evening, past press deadline. Locally, voters chose their top candidate for three Placer County Board of Supervisor seats. The top two vote earners in each race will duke it out on the November ballots unless they receive 50 percent plus one vote. Of the ballots remaining to be tallied, 23,525 ballots were vote-by-mail ballots received on or before Election Day. Additional ballots remaining to be counted include provisional ballots, voter registration conditional ballots and ballots that may be damaged or require additional review. Tuesday's results reveal some tight races, particularly for Loomis voters regarding Measure A, which is currently defeated by a difference of 15 votes. If passed, Measure A would change the town clerk position from an elected position to an appointed position. For the Placer County Board of Supervisors District 3 seat, which represents Rocklin, Loomis and Penryn, Mike Murray leads the race with 6,259 votes (39.27 percent) with Anthony DeMattei in second with 4,939 votes (30.99 percent) and Dave Butler with 4,739 votes (29.74 percent). For the Board of Supervisors District 4 seat, which represents Granite Bay, Roseville and Loomis, incumbent Suzanne Jones has a strong lead well over the 50-percent-plus-one-vote threshold to retain her seat without having to move on to the November ballot. Jones has 11,940 votes (62.64 percent). Jeff Moss has the second-most votes with 4,551 votes (23.88 percent) and Karen Henson has 2,570 votes (13.48 percent). For the Board of Supervisors District 5 seat, which represents all of Auburn, a portion of Newcastle, Colfax and North Lake Tahoe, incumbent Cindy Gustafson nearly has the votes she needs to avoid a November show-off. Gustafson has 10,545 votes (48.51 percent). Wayne Nader has the second-most votes with 5,426 votes (24.96 percent). Incumbent Jim Holmes received 4,194 votes (19.29) and Rick Chowdry received 1,575 votes (7.24 percent). The reason it takes days and weeks to settle election results is because elections staff goes through multiple steps to ensure returned mail-in ballots are eligible. "We are hoping to encourage voters to vote early," said Public Information Assistant Stacy Robinson. "The reason why it takes so many days after an election is because people consistently drop off their ballots or vote the day of the election." Robinson said there are two options for people who wish to see results earlier – vote early at a vote center or return your completed ballot to be scanned at a vote center on Election Day. Robinson said the Elections Office will update the count every Tuesday and Friday at the end of the business day before ballot results are officially certified April 5. For more details on results, visit placercountyelections.gov/election-results.