Contra Costa absentee ballots tabulated, results released

By Matthias Gafni
Contra Costa Times

Article Launched: 11/12/2008 05:40:43 PM PST

The latest election update Wednesday afternoon left most close Contra Costa races with wider gaps after the registrar of voters added about 50,000 more mail-in ballots to the tally.

All absentee ballots, except the emergency ones, have been counted, Registrar Steve Weir said. All that is left to count are emergency, provisional and miscellaneous ballots. Weir's office updated the Web site (www.cocovote.us) Wednesday with plans to post new numbers again Friday.

"We're pretty close," said Weir, who wants to wrap up all ballots by Thanksgiving.

In West County, the gap in the tight Hercules City Council race, which flip-flopped once since Election Night, grew Wednesday as Donald Kuehne's lead increased to 50 votes over John Delgado.

The Richmond council race saw its gap increase from 35 to 331 votes, with Nat Bates now holding third place and incumbent Tom Butt edging into second place. Jovanka Beckles remains in fourth place in the three-seat race.

In Central County, the John Swett Unified School District board race tightened slightly, while Clayton's race grew marginally. Howard Harpham's lead over Janice Kolbe grew from 7 to 43 votes in the Moraga town council battle for the third seat.

In East County, the Los Medanos Community Healthcare director race narrowed, as Joe Rubi's lead over J. Vern Cromartie dropped from 70 to 48 votes. The battles for District 5 supervisor, Antioch mayor and council, Oakley council and Bethel Island Municipal Improvement District changed little.

Reach Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5053 or mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com.