Final results for mayoral election expected today
on November 8, 2010
By 4:00 pm today, the Registrar of Voters is expected to announce the winner of Oakland’s first ranked-choice mayoral election.
Registrar of Voters Dave Macdonald said on Friday that the final tally, including the previously uncounted 15,000 mail-in ballots, will likely be released this afternoon. This would mark the end of Oakland’s first ranked-choice election, in which voters were able to select their first, second, and third choices for mayor.
Results released on election night, Tuesday November 2, included only voters’ first-choice candidates, showing former state senator Don Perata with 35.13 percent of the vote, a double-digit lead over his closest competitor, city councilmember Jean Quan. Ranked-choice calculations were run on Friday, November 5, using an algorithm that procedurally eliminated the candidates who received the fewest first-choice votes, counting their second and third choices instead. After the computation was run, Quan surged into a slight lead over Perata, with 51.09 percent of votes to his 48.91 percent. At that point, 15,000 mail-in ballots from throughout the county remained uncounted, and it was unclear how many of those voters had cast votes in the Oakland mayoral race.
As of this morning, the race remains extremely close. With a mere 1,876-vote difference between Perata’s and Quan’s totals at the last tally, the outcome of the uncounted ballots could sway the race definitively in either direction.
Quan’s campaign has announced that it will hold a press conference at 4:30 pm at Oakland City Hall, as well as what it’s calling a “a celebration of grassroots organizing” at 6:30 pm at The New Parish in downtown Oakland. On Friday, the Perata campaign issued a short press release reserving comment until the final tally. “It appears there might be a reversal of fortune,” the release read. “We’re unclear about Alameda County’s processes and await a final and accurate count.”
Stay tuned to Oakland North for breaking news coverage this afternoon after the final results are announced and candidates—and future mayor—comment on the election season.
Update: No results Monday—more information on the delay here.
Check out all of our Oakland elections coverage on our Campaign 2010 page.
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Image: Judy Cox, ranked-choice voting advocate, stands with Registrar of Voters Dave Macdonald while looking at the preliminary results of Oakland’s first ranked-choice vote for mayor. Cox worked with the Measure O campaign to change Oakland’s voting system to ranked-choice voting. Photo by Laura Hautala.
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Oakland North is an online news service produced by students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and covering Oakland, California. Our goals are to improve local coverage, innovate with digital media, and listen to you–about the issues that concern you and the reporting you’d like to see in your community. Please send news tips to: oaklandnorthstaff@gmail.com.
Don Perata is setting the stage to challenge RCV if he loses, which showed that a majority of Oakland voters do not want the former State Senator with a history of questionable deals and exorbitant spending as our Mayor.
Ranked Choice Voting needs to be defended, expanded, and extended to state and Congressional elections.
Perata’s camp is “unclear” on the process.
Statements like that would make an “anybody but Don” win all the sweeter.