Large numbers of absentee ballots and provisional ballots, as
well as a larger-than-expected amount of paper ballots, are keeping
volunteers at the county Registrar of Voters
’ office busy counting after Tuesday’s election.
Large numbers of absentee ballots and provisional ballots, as well as a larger-than-expected amount of paper ballots, are keeping volunteers at the county Registrar of Voters’ office busy counting after Tuesday’s election.
They may also change the results of the Morgan Hill School Board election.
While Registrar Jesse Durazo has until Nov. 30 to certify the election results, he said Thursday that the remaining ballots would take up to 10 days to count. By Friday afternoon 90,835 absentee, provisional and paper optical scan ballots were left to count out of an estimated total of 600,000 countywide.
As precincts reported in Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, the race for three seats continued to have the same results as of 4pm Friday: Kathleen Sullivan in the lead, with Peter Mandel and Julia Hover-Smoot in second and third place, respectively.
The final three candidates also held the same positions all night: Harlan Warthen, followed by Bob Griesinger and Mike Davenport.
The latest results show Hover-Smoot 51 votes ahead of Warthen. She was 863 votes ahead in election-day ballots counted as of Wednesday morning.
Hover-Smoot has 6,045 and Warthen has 5,094 votes. Sullivan leads with 8,976; Mandel appears to have won the second seat with 6,949. Griesinger is 1,537 votes behind Warthen, with 3,557.
“I hadn’t really thought about that at all,” Hover-Smoot said Friday about the chance that outstanding votes could push Warthen ahead of her. “I hope I can hold my win. I would hate to have to tell my parents that I didn’t win. They’re so excited. They’ve been very supportive.”
The victory would be sweet for Hover-Smoot, who has campaigned for a seat on the board twice in the past without winning.
“I think it’s good for my kids to see, and people in the community, that you can keep trying for something and finally get there,” she said. “It feels very nice to have finally gotten to this point.”
Warthen did not return calls for comment.
