As Shasta County’s ballot tabulation continues, some races may still be too close to call. As of the latest update Friday afternoon, there were 36,159 ballots counted and more than 18,000 still unprocessed. Most vote-by-mail ballots were received March 4th and 5th, and every signature must be verified. The deadline to receive postmarked ballots is Tuesday March 12th. The next update on the count is Tuesday afternoon. The voting system testing and 1% manual tally also happens Tuesday.
Some Shasta County political races have gotten tighter as more ballots are tallied. The recall of Kevin Crye from District One leads by 52% to 48%. In District Four, Matt Plummer has a comfortable lead of 60% over Patrick Jones. In the District Three race, Mary Rickert shows 43%, so she’s unlikely to take the race outright but will face a runoff in November with either Corkey Harmon or Win Carpenter, who are currently separated by just 148 votes. In the crowded District Two race there are four candidates, but Allen Long may avoid a runoff anyway as he currently has 53% of the vote, followed by Laura Hobbs with 18%, Dan Sloan with 17% and Susanne Baremore with 13%.
Shasta County’s two ballot measure are both on a path to victory. Measure C would limit county supervisors to two terms and it shows an overwhelming 75% support. Measure D would change Shasta County from a common law government and would instead adopt a charter for more local control. The yes votes for measure d are showing 53%.