MENDOCINO CO., 11/13/26 — If you voted in Ukiah, the two candidates closest to the last seat on your City Council are now one vote apart.
Mayor Susan Sher has 1,841 votes. Challenger Robert Bazzani has 1,840. Those are the results Mendocino County’s elections office ran at 3:05 p.m. Thursday, after it counted 7,094 more ballots. On Tuesday, Sher led by five votes.
The count isn’t over. The county lists 1,712 ballots left to count and expects to post new results by 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, according to a report on unprocessed ballots dated Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
If you were waiting for results Friday, they came a day early. The county’s earlier report, dated Tuesday, first gave Friday, Nov. 13 as the date for the next results. The copy of that report now on the county’s website says Thursday, Nov. 12, and that’s when the county posted them.
The ballots still waiting
The county has now counted 30,853 ballots. That’s 56.91% of its 54,217 registered voters.
Of the 1,712 ballots left, the report lists 1,214 provisional ballots. The state describes a provisional ballot as a regular ballot placed in a special envelope. It applies to voters whose names weren’t on the list at the polling place, and to voters who received a mail-in ballot and then show up in person to vote without that ballot. The state says provisional ballots are counted after elections officials confirm the voter is registered in the county and didn’t already vote. The report also lists 443 mail ballots that arrived after Election Day and 55 ballots forwarded to the Mendocino elections office by other counties.
Then there are 179 ballots left to “cure.” That’s the county’s word for a problem the voter can still fix, such as an envelope that wasn’t signed or a signature the office couldn’t match. If you got one of the county’s letters, it says your signed statement has to reach the elections office no later than 5 p.m. Nov. 25. The letter says you can mail it, deliver it, email it or fax it.
Ukiah City Council
Eight candidates are running for three seats. John Strangio has 2,106 votes and Vice Mayor Juan V. Orozco has 2,022. Sher is third with 1,841 and Bazzani is fourth with 1,840. Councilmember Mari Rodin has 1,806, which puts her 35 votes behind Sher. Matt Froneberger has 1,753. Sean K. White has 1,230 and Mia L. Uribe 592.
Thursday’s count added 264 Ukiah ballots, bringing the city’s total to 5,077. On election night, Bazzani was fifth, 124 votes behind Sher.
Willits Unified School District
Four candidates are running for three seats. Mason Neil Rescina moved from third to second with 2,450 votes. Nicole Karkar leads with 2,743. Incumbent Jeanne King is third with 2,311. That’s 41 more than incumbent Paula Nunez, who has 2,270. On Tuesday, Nunez was 37 votes out of third.
Supervisor, 3rd District
Eric Hart leads Buffey Wright Bourassa 2,894 to 2,237. His lead was 228 votes on election night, 358 on Tuesday and 657 on Thursday. They’re running for the seat held by Supervisor John Haschak, who didn’t seek reelection.
Fort Bragg City Council and Measure B
The three incumbents lead the eight-way race for three seats. Jason Godeke has 1,574 votes, Marcia Rafanan 1,147 and Tess Albin-Smith 1,071. Mary Rose Kaczorowski is fourth with 974, 97 votes behind Albin-Smith. On Tuesday she was 85 votes behind.
Measure B, a $50-a-year parcel tax for Fort Bragg fire equipment, has 75.94% yes. It needs two-thirds to pass.
Other races and measures
Marilyn Puget leads Craig Perry 2,511 to 2,010 for a Mendocino County Board of Education seat. Beatriz “Bea” Arkin leads Gabriel Baca Meza 1,038 to 449 for a Ukiah Unified board seat. Jarred Hildebrand leads Steven Giuntini 293 to 97 for a Potter Valley Irrigation District seat.
Measure D, the Coast Life Support District ambulance tax, has 72.80% yes among Mendocino County voters. The district also takes in part of Sonoma County, and voters in both counties decide the measure together. In Sonoma County’s latest count, posted Thursday morning, it has 727 yes votes and 272 no, or 72.77% yes. It needs two-thirds. Point Arena’s Measure C, a hotel and vacation rental tax increase, leads 100 to 35 and needs a majority.
Measure K is a $25 million bond for a new hospital in Garberville. Among Mendocino County voters in the Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District, it has 14 yes votes and 15 no. On Tuesday it was 11 to 15. The district reaches into northern Mendocino County, and the bond needs two-thirds to pass. In Humboldt County, where most of the district’s voters live, it has 1,287 yes votes and 988 no, or 56.57% yes, in the count Humboldt ran Tuesday evening. Humboldt plans its next update by 5 p.m. Friday.
Results are posted at mendocinocounty.gov under Current Election Results. The elections office’s number is 707-234-6819.
The results are unofficial. Sher’s lead is one vote, 1,712.