Election Results Are Updated in Alameda County But Some Races Remain Close

Several races in Alameda County cities remained too close to call after the Registrar of Voters office updated election results Thursday. Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis said after Tuesday’s election that more than 100,000 ballots still needed to be counted. County spokesman Guy Ashley said about 25,000 of those ballots were included in Thursday’s update but more than 75,000 ballots remain to be counted.

In Alameda, Mayor Marie Gilmore still trails school board member Trish Spencer but has edged a little bit closer. In results announced early Wednesday morning, Spencer led Gilmore by 50.9 percent to 48.7 percent, with a margin of 287 votes, but today the margin decreased to 50.42 percent to 49.21 percent, with a difference of only 174 votes.

In Berkeley, George Beier, the president of the Willard Neighborhood Association, maintained a slim lead over teacher Lori Droste. In percentage terms, Beier’s margin narrowed slightly, from 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent on Wednesday morning to 50.49 percent to 49.51 percent today. But in raw votes, Beier increased his margin from 25 votes on Wednesday to 28 votes today. Beier currently has 1,449 votes and Droste has 1,421. Beier actually finished third in the first round of voting in the four-candidate race. Droste finished first with 28.06 percent, entrepreneur Mike Cohen finished second with 27.49 percent, Beier was third with 25.97 percent and Jacquelyn McCormick finished fourth with 18.47 percent. But Beier, at least for now, came out on top after ranked-choice tabulations were made.

The winner in District 8 will replace City Councilman Gordon Wozniak, who will retire next month after 12 years in office. In District 7 in Berkeley, incumbent Kriss Worthington maintained a comfortable lead over challenger Sean Barry in percentage terms, 55.61 percent to 44.39 percent. But Worthington’s margin is only 96 votes. Worthington’s margin on Wednesday morning was 81 votes. In the most closely-watched race in Alameda County, if not the entire Bay Area, Oakland City Councilwoman Libby Schaaf increased her margin over Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan in the 15-candidate mayoral election. Schaaf led Kaplan by 62.79 percent to 37.21 percent on Wednesday morning after 15 rounds of ranked-choice tabulations and the margin went up slightly today to 63.05 percent to 36.95 percent. Kaplan, Mayor Jean Quan and the other candidates in the field have already conceded victory to Schaaf.

Ashley said election workers will continue counting ballots Thursday, on Friday, throughout the weekend and into next week. Alameda County has until Dec. 2 to certify its election results.

By Bay City News

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