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::: COMMUNITY NEWS

It's final (finally) Kjome, Belton and Taylor win seats on CSD board [Updated Nov. 30) Twenty-three days after the polls closed, the results are final in the election for three seats on the Community Services District board of directors. County Registrar of Voters Jill LaVine on Thursday certified final totals that elected Robert J. Kjome, Bobbi (Roberta) Belton and incumbent Richard (Dick) Taylor. Taylor nosed out Steven C. Mobley by 21 votes for the final seat. FINAL VOTE TOTALS FOR THREE SEATS Updated Nov. 30 Robert J. Kjome 1,126 Bobbi Belton 1,022 Richard Taylor 943 Steven C. Mobley 922 Jerry Pasek 886 Dennis Barsam 847 Matt Brown 630 Marty Zimmerman 86

CSD results hold as vote counting continues

Third update published Wednesday, November 22, 2006
First published Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Incumbent Dick Taylor continued to run ahead of challenger Steve Mobley in a contest for the third seat on the Community Services District board as Sacramento County updated the vote count Wednesday. In the close race, Taylor has 936 votes to Mobley's 913. The 23-vote lead is tighter than the last ballot update, last week, when Taylor led by 28 votes.

Wednesday's update made the smallest changes of the three updates since the Nov. 7 election. The latest changes were about 20 votes each for the leaders.

Bob Kjome stayed the top vote-getter with 1,117 votes, and Bobbi Belton held the second spot with 1,014 votes.

The election is for three seats on the five-member board of the public agency.

After early returns were posted following the election, Sacramento County Registrar of Voters Jill LaVine said, "Anything is possible at this point. We still have over a hundred thousand ballots to be counted (in the county)."

While the counting continues, the county will provide updates on the results. The county has 28 days after the election to certify the election results. This year's deadline is Dec. 5.

Taylor and Mobley traded positions early on in the counting process. Results posted after the polls closed Nov. 7 showed Taylor with a narrow lead over Mobley. Later that night, with the final Election Night count, Mobley moved ahead.

Early returns were dominated by absentee ballots processed by Election Day, while the final late-night results included the ballots cast at polling places, LaVine said.

The votes now being counted are absentee ballots dropped off at polling places on Election Day and provisional ballots that have to be certified as valid.

The absentee ballots are verified, sorted and counted, with much of the processing done manually by a staff that dwindles to a few dozen after the election, the registrar said.

The total number of ballots to be counted for Rancho Murieta is unknown.

"A couple precincts (in the county) came back with over 400 (absentee ballots) and others came back with 35," she said. "Did (voters) drop them off at the areas they work in or live in is a whole other issue. … What takes a long time is the provisional ballots and those haven't been counted (yet). … Each one is kind of like a little detective case."

The post-Election Night ballot count has added considerably to the candidates' totals. For example, Kjome, the leader, has climbed from 684 votes tallied on Election Night to 1,117 in the latest update. Similarly, Belton, in second place, has gone from 650 votes to 1,014.

Recounts of the vote are standard procedure under state law that requires a manual recount of 1 percent of the total number of precincts in the county to verify the vote, LaVine said. One of Rancho Murieta's five precincts will be included in the recount because of the contest for the CSD board. This is required by law in any jurisdiction where there is a local contest, she explained.

In the event of a tie vote, the range of options for choosing a winner includes flipping a coin or drawing straws, the registrar said.