November 8 Election – First Update

Most statewide races decided; next local count to be released Thursday.

Updated November 9, 6:15 p.m.

The Alameda County Registrar of Voters released additional figures late early this morning that did not change any of the standings previously posted. This new tally includes the votes cast at polling places on or before Election Day plus additional vote-by-mail ballots that have been counted. They later posted to their Twitter account that they will release the next tally at 5 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, November 10.

The ROV website states 3.29% of registered voters, or a total of 30,611, chose to vote at polling places throughout the county instead of using a mail-in ballot. Of 931,086 registered voters, 139,841 mail-in ballots have been counted, or just over 15% of possible voters. Combined with those who voted in person, total county-wide turnout that has been counted at this point is 18.31%.

The City of Alameda has 50,347 registered voters. The ACROV Election Site eData Page states that 20,173 mail-in ballots from city residents and those in the military and overseas have been returned so far, or just over 40% of registered voters in the city.

The CA Secretary of State released an updated count at 9:41 a.m. today, with all precincts partially reporting. Although some of the races tightened up since initial tallies on Election Night, every leading candidate listed remains ahead of their opponent by double digits. The sole exception is the Controller’s race, where Malia Cohen leads with 53.6% of votes counted. Just about all of the state races directly affecting Alamedans have been called, including those for the Senate and the House 12th district, Governor, Attorney General, and the 18th district of the State Assembly.

• US Senate Partial Term: Alex Padilla (D) 58.8% / Mark Meuser (R) 41.2%
• US Senate Full Term: Alex Padilla (D) 59.0% / Mark Meuser (R) 41.0%
• District 12, US House of Representatives: Barbara Lee (D)* 87.1% / Steven Slauson (R) 12.9%
• Governor: Gavin Newsom (D)* 57.6% / Brian Dahle (R) 42.4%
• Lieutenant Governor: Eleni Kounalakis (D)* 57.7% / Angela Underwood Jacobs (R) 42.3%
• Secretary of State: Shirley Weber (D)* 58% / Rob Bernosky (R) 42%
• Controller: Malia Cohen (D) 53.6% / Lanhee Chen (R) 46.4%
• Treasurer: Fiona Ma (D)* 57.1% / Jack Guerrero (R) 42.9%
• Attorney General: Rob Bonta (D)* 57.2% / Nathan Hochman (R) 42.8%
• Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara (D)* 57.9% / Robert Howell (R) 42.1%
• State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony Thurmond (D)* 62.7% / Lance Christensen (R) 37.3%
• Member, State Board of Equalization, 2nd District: Sally Lieber (D) 67.5% / Peter Verbica (R) 32.5%
• 18th Assembly District: Mia Bonta (D)* 85.8% / Mindy Pechenuk (R) 14.2%

* Incumbent

State proposition standings remain the same as posted previously: Propositions 1, 28, and 31 gained approval, while Propositions 26, 27, 29, and 30 have been rejected. For ongoing updates to state races, visit the California Secretary of State Election results site. Their website states that results will be certified by December 12, 2022.

Check with the Alameda Post for ongoing updates.

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Update November 8, 11:20 p.m. — Alameda County has released further counts this evening, most recently at 10:36 p.m. The tally now includes about 16,000 additional votes, representing 1.8% of registered voters. The new counts do not change any of the standings as posted below. The Alameda Post will provide additional updates as they become available.

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Early mail-in ballot tallies show statewide winners; local races will take time to determine.

Initial results are in from the November 8 General Election. The first set of numbers, showing mail-in ballots that have been counted, were released by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters at 8:18 p.m., Tuesday evening. Alameda County reports a total registration of 931,086 voters. Of these, 139,841 ballots have been returned and counted in this initial tally, or 15%.

CA’s Secretary of State began releasing numbers shortly after 8 p.m. Per their website, “Election results will change throughout the canvass period as vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots (including conditional voter registration provisional ballots), and other ballots are tallied.” Or, in other words, these are very early numbers that will change until the final ballots are counted and the results are certified.

For more detailed and up-to-date election results please visit the Alameda County Election site and California Secretary of State Election results site.

Alameda City election results

Three people stood as candidates for mayor this year. Two of the candidates have held the office previously— current City Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer was Mayor from 2015-2019, until current Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft was voted into office. The initial count shows incumbent Ashcraft leading, with 55.1% and 38.6% for Spencer so far. Newcomer Barack Obama Shaw has garnered only 6.2% of the vote counted to date.

Two seats are up for grabs on Alameda’s City Council, and a third could go to the third place finisher if Spencer is elected mayor. Incumbent Tony Daysog currently has the most votes, with 31%, while Alameda Hospital board member Tracy Jensen is next, with 21.9%. The other three candidates are grouped closely together. First-time candidate Paul Beusterien currently holds third place, with 14.5%, trailed closely by fellow newcomer, Hannah Groce, at 14.4%, and former Councilmember Jim Oddie with 14.3%. Despite having suspended his campaign on September 1, Bill Pai received 3.7% of the mail-in ballots that have been counted so far.

For Alameda Unified School District Board members, incumbent Gary Lym is likely to return for another term. He currently holds 40% of the vote, and looks to be joined by former PTA president Ryan LaLonde, who was chosen on 27.9% of ballots that have been counted. They lead two other candidates, Leland Traiman and Maria Elena Moreno Van Maren with 16.9% and 15.2%  of counted ballots respectively.

Alameda residents had two local measures on the ballot. Measure E, which would allow City Council to vote to increase Council salaries was almost evenly split, with 51% in favor in this first count. Measure F, which would increase the transit occupancy tax from 10% to 14%, saw voters leaning in favor, with 57.3% of votes counted supporting the measure.

Alameda County voting

Both races for County Supervisor for the Third District and District Attorney will see new faces assuming office in January. Current DA Wendy O’Malley is retiring, and long-time County Supervisor Wilma Chan died after being hit by a car in 2021. Terry Wiley is narrowly leading Pamela Price in the race to become the new DA with 52.1% of the votes counted to date; either would the first African American elected to the post. The race for County Supervisor is also still a toss-up, with former Alameda Vice Mayor and Councilmember Lena Tam leading Rebecca Kaplan  by 55.1% to 44.9%. And, in the two AC Transit board races to represent Alameda, initial mail-in ballots counted show Sarah Syed is leading Stewart Chen for Ward 3 director by 64.9% to 35.1%, while incumbent Joel Young is leading challenger Alfred Twu by 24% to be Director At-Large.

State races

Initial results in California’s state races as of 8:51 p.m. showed strong support for Democratic candidates, unsurprising for a blue state. Democrats are leading their statewide races by 14% or more in votes counted to this point. Several leads look to be insurmountable, especially in the race for 18th Assembly, where incumbent Mia Bonta leads by over 73% of votes counted.

• Governor: Gavin Newsom (D)* 61.5% / Brian Dahle (R) 38.5%
• Lieutenant Governor: Eleni Kounalakis (D)* 61.7% / Angela Underwood Jacobs (R) 36.4%
• Secretary of State: Shirley Weber (D)* 61.9% / Rob Bernosky (R) 38.1%
• Controller: Malia Cohen (D) 57% / Lanhee Chen (R) 43%
• Treasurer: Fiona Ma (D)* 61% / Jack Guerrero (R) 39%
• Attorney General: Rob Bonta (D)* 61% / Nathan Hochman (R) 39%
• Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara (D)* 61.7% / Robert Howell (R) 38.3%
• State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony Thurmond (D)* 66% / Lance Christensen (R) 34%
• Member, State Board of Equalization, 2nd District: Sally Lieber (D) 69.2% / Peter Verbica (R) 30.8%
• 18th Assembly District: Mia Bonta (D)* 86.8% / Mindy Pechenuk (R) 13.2%

* incumbent

State propositions

#	Title	Yes	%	No	%
1	Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom	2,746,390	68.5%	1,261,439	31.5%
26	Sports Wagering on Tribal Lands	1,183,470	29.6%	2,818,735	70.4%
27	Online Sports Wagering Outside of Tribal Lands	645,358	16.0%	3,394,530	84.0%
28	Public School Arts and Music Education Funding	2,537,411	63.1%	1,482,549	36.9%
29	Regulates Kidney Dialysis Clinics	1,206,847	30.1%	2,798,137	69.9%
30	Tax to Fund ZEV/Wildfire Programs	1,715,033	42.5%	2,318,157	57.5%
31	Prohibition on Sale of Certain Tobacco Products	2,606,579	64.9%	1,407,749	35.1%

Federal offices

In federal races, Alex Padilla (D) has almost certainly defeated Mark Meuser (R), to both fill the remainder of Vice President Kamala Harris’ term as Senator for the state of California, and for the succeeding term. Early tallies show Padilla’s lead to be 62.8% to Meuser’s 37.3% in each race. Representative Barbara Lee (D) will return to congress in 2023, having held off a challenge by Steven Slauson (R). Initial voting shows her ahead by 76%.

Follow our coverage

The Alameda Post will keep track of all the changes in posted election results as tallies are revised and updates. Visit the Resources page to see all of Alameda’s current elected officials and visit the Election 2022 news page for other election information.

Adam Gillitt is the Publisher of the Alameda Post. Reach him at [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Adam-Gillitt.