With fewer than 5,000 ballots remaining to be counted, Shasta County election numbers are coming into focus with the latest count Monday afternoon. Joanna Francescut will be returning to the Elections Office, this time as it’s duly elected leader, with 58% of the vote over Clint Curtis’s 42%. In the Board of Supervisors District One race, Erin Resner has defeated incumbent Kevin Crye with 55% over his 38%. In the District 5 race, Mike Gallagher has 49%, which is well ahead of incumbent Chris Kelstrom with 41%. However, Gallagher needs to get at least 50% plus one vote to avoid a runoff with Kelstrom in November. The fight has likely only begun with the voter approval of the election reform initiative Measure B, which appears to have won at the ballot box with 55% approval. The next update should be Tuesday evening, and there will still be more mail-in ballots arriving, but these races all seem insurmountable.
-Steve Gibson