LAKEPORT >> The vote count from Lake County’s June primary election was finalized by the Registrar of Voters on Tuesday night after a marathon session to complete results by deadline. The final tally resulted in two runoff races for supervisorial seats and a victory for Kelseyville Unified School District’s Measure U.
This outcome did not alter preliminary results released last month as candidate placement remained the same. The only difference was that the candidates slightly increased their leads.
“From what I’ve seen most of the trends remain the same within one percent,” District 4 Candidate Martin Scheel, who held on to second place from the first report released on June 7, said. “That’s why campaigns are so confident on election night.”
In Scheel’s district, the Greater Lakeport area, Tina Scott finished off a stunning upset over the city councilman and Lake County Chamber of Commerce president Ted Mandrones, both of whom had been likely favorites in the race. With 1,253 votes, she outpaced them by 291 and 527 ballots, respectively, capturing about 31 percent of the turnout.
Scott could not be reached in time for this story but Scheel said it “wasn’t a surprise” due to the Lakeport school board member’s following.
Still, he’s on the November ballot, which the candidate said he’s excited about.
“It’s going to be a campaign election that comes down to experience,” he said. “I’m looking forward to knocking on doors and capturing all those other votes.”
District 1
Consistency was also the story in District 1 (South Lake County) as leader Monica Rosenthal and second-place Jose “Moke” Simon held off former supervisor Voris Brumfield in a very tight race.
With 827 total ballots, the latter missed the runoff by only 67 votes — nearly the same difference that separated her from Rosenthal in the preliminary results.
“I’m very disappointed,” Brumfield said. “I look forward to the November election and staying involved in District 1.”
For Simon and Rosenthal, they were separated by a mere 18 votes.
“I am very pleased to see the way it came out,” the Middletown Rancheria Tribal Chair said. “I think it was a hard decision for everybody.”
He added that “it’s going to take a lot of hard work” to beat the Hidden Valley Lake Businesswoman in the fall.
Measure U and other notables
Meanwhile, yes votes for Measure U, which authorizes Kelseyville Unified School District to issue $24 million in general obligation bonds, also held on to acquire 61.7 percent — 5.7 percentage points above the statutory threshold for passage.
About 16,700 ballots were cast, according to the registrar. Overall, it was a 51 percent turnout.
Rosenthal and KUSD officials couldn’t be reached in time for comment at press time. Results were announced at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
