Politics & Government

Election 2012: Still 140,000 Ballots To Count In Alameda County

The outcome of some races won't be known for days

Alameda County officials still have an estimated 140,000 ballots to count before they can certify Tuesday's election.

David Macdonald, the county registrar of voters, estimated there are 100,000 vote-by-mail ballots turned in at the polls on Tuesday. There's another 40,000 provisional ballots.

Right now, the official number of ballots cast in the county is almost 400,000. If all the late ballots were found to be allowable, that would increase the voter turnout to 540,000.

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These ballots probably won't all be counted until sometime next week.

They could determine several close ballot items.

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Among them is Measure B1, the countywide proposal that would raise the local sales tax to pay for transportation projects. Right now, just short of the 66.7 percent it needs for approval.

There's also the 18th Assembly district race. In that contest, Alameda Vice Mayor over Peralta Community College District board member Abel Guillen. It's unknown how many uncounted ballots are from this district, which encompasses San Leandro, Oakland and Alameda.

Though the gap is wider, it's a similar story for the 20th Assembly district race where Hayward councilman Bill over optometrist Jennifer Ong. The district includes Union City, Hayward and north Fremont, along with Castro Valley, Sunol, Ashland, Cherryland and San Lorenzo.

While the uncounted ballots may not have huge impacts on smaller local races, there are some that could be turned around.

The late ballots could affect the outcome of one of the two San Leandro City Council races. In that one, incumbent Ursula Reed holds a slim 97-vote lead.

Measure L, San Leandro's $39-per-home school parcel tax, also hangs in the balance. just shy of the 66.7 percent needed for passage.

Again, it's unknown how many of the late ballots are from San Leandro.

In local elections in Fremont, Lily Mei hovers over Reshma Karipineni by a 712-vote lead for the third available seat on the Fremont Unified School District's Board of Education. Ann Crosbie is only slightly ahead of Mei with 817 more votes and Desrie Campbell is top overall with 19,454 votes — a 738-vote lead above Crosbie.

In the Fremont mayor's race, Bill Harrison leads with 1,964 more votes than his closest opponent Steve Cho. And Cho told The Fremont Argus that he's not ready to concede. Read that report here.

Measure A1, the could also be impacted by the late ballots. The measure has 62.7 percent of the vote. It would need a large chunk of the late ballots to get over the 66.7 percent hurdle. 

Under state law, the county has until Dec. 4 to certify the election.

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