LAKE COUNTY >> Although results are still preliminary, the races cleared up a quite a bit on Wednesday after election judges worked through the night county ballots.
The most recent report, released Wednesday afternoon, was the second one presented by the Lake County Registrar of Voters since California polls closed at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
One of the county’s most watched races, District 1 Supervisor, flip-flopped between the two reports with Middletown Rancheria Tribal Chairman Jose “Moke” Simon taking a commanding 113 vote lead over Hidden Valley Lake businesswoman Monica Rosenthal after trailing by 63 in Tuesday’s preliminary absentee ballot report.
“I was absolutely anxious,” Simon said, noting his competitive nature as a former NFL player. “At that point, I was losing.”
He said Wednesday that he’s feeling optimistic about his chances at reportedly becoming the first Native American elected to the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
“I feel confident with everything out there,” he said. “This is where I expected to be when I joined the race. I ran a good campaign.”
Simon confirmed that he can’t claim victory as the results will not be official finalized until early December.
Meanwhile, his opponent took the day off Wednesday and relaxed after having spending more than a year on the campaign trail.
“It’s disappointing,” Rosenthal said about her loss of the lead. “It is what it is and the voters have voted.”
She hasn’t conceded or given up hope, but if their June runoff election is any indicator, there could be less than a 1,000 votes left to count.
District 4
In the other supervisorial race, covering the Greater Lakeport area, Lakeport Unified School District board member Tina Scott maintained her 60.4 share of the more than 3,600 votes tallied. She currently leads Martin Scheel by 21.2 percentage points.
Neither candidate could be reached, but Scott declared herself the winner early Wednesday morning on her personal Facebook page.
“I know I have some big shoes to fill taking [incumbent District 4 Supervisor] Anthony Farrington’s seat and will work hard for all the people in Lake County,” she said in a post. “I have learned there is passion in this county, and people wanting to work for the greater good of us all. It is going to take every one of us to make Lake County forward, and this will be done by working together.”
Based on the June 8 primary, there may be nearly 800 votes left to count.
After serving for 15 years, Farrington decided not to run for reelection back in late 2015. I“Without question, Tina Scott is the only candidate with the experience and integrity necessary to move Lake County forward,” he said in a press release published in late September. “I have talked to our local teachers, and they find Tina to be someone that they can trust to solve problems.”
The Measures
The election office also reported large leads in the “Yes” votes for tax-imposing measures C, V and Z with all three showing percentages of 60 percent or higher.
The former, which will levy medical marijuana commercial cultivation, had nearly 7,900 residents voting yes (62.2 percent). According to Jim Steele, this allows the county to have more enforcement to regulate illegal growing and be able to protect high density areas from cultivators.
“This allows us to have some revenues and have a civilized community where the two groups are separated as they should be.”
Further, “Yes” on Clearlake’s Measure V has garnered 67.3 percent of the vote — just a little more than the 66.7 percent threshold needed for passage. Multiple sources on social media have already declared victory such as Bruno Sabatier and city council candidate Phil Harris, who also projected his election win on Facebook Wednesday.
“We will now have the funds to start restoring our roads,” Harris wrote. “Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!
A similar initiative in Lakeport, Measure Z is also showing a large lead in early returns, but with “yes” votes at 61.8 percent it may not pass the requirement’s outlined in state law. If it does pass, the levy should raise $1.5 million annually for local roads and public services.
Election results won’t be finalized until Dec. 6.
