The Alameda County Registrar of Voters just announced that it will not post final results in the Oakland mayor’s race today because it has not yet finished counting all of the provisional ballots. The registrar only plans to update the first-place votes for the candidates this afternoon, and not run the final ranked choice tabulations until all of the ballots are counted.
Update 3:07 p.m.: Registrar spokesman Guy Ashley said there are still a few thousand provisional ballots to count. Provisional ballots are cast by voters who arrive at the polling station but their names are not on the official roster for that location. Counting them is typically a very slow process.
Update 3:11 p.m.: Ashley also said that update posted later today will include most of the 15,000 ballots from Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro that were counted over the weekend. Again, it will only be first-place ballots posted today, so expect ex-state Senator Don Perata to be shown in the lead even though he may not be. Councilwoman Jean Quan was shown Friday as moving ahead of Perata when the second- and third-place votes are added in.
Update 3:15 p.m.: The registrar has decided not to run the ranked-choice tabulations again until all of the votes are counted as part of an agreement made with the Oakland City Attorney’s Office.
Update 3:20 p.m.: But the first-place votes posted today should still be illuminating. The tabulations from Friday showed that Perata or Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan must pick up lots of first-place votes in order for either of them to pass Quan.
Update 4:25 p.m.: The registrar just announced that it has decided to not release any results today.
Update 4:29 p.m.: Registrar spokesman Guy Ashley said that his office hopes to finish counting all the provisional ballots by tomorrow. However, it’s a slow process.
Update 4:33 p.m.: Although frustrating, the registrar’s decision to not release new first-place totals today is understandable. The reason is that they likely will show Perata in the lead, when he actually may not be. That’s because the registrar does not plan to run the ranked choice tabulations, which include second- and third-place votes, until all the ballots have been counted. Friday’s ranked choice tabulations showed Quan leading Perata, even though he had more first-place votes then, too.
