Despite virus lockdown, Bay Area counties continue to count ballots

County offices working to certify the results of the March 3 primary elections are racing to meet their end of month deadline to certify results of seven outstanding judicial contests and the Los Angeles County district attorney race.

Depending on final ballots, some of those races could end with declared winners while others will have run-offs in November.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla conducted a conference call with elections officials in all 58 counties Monday, as the coronavirus brings closure of non-essential government departments across the state.

He said the ballot counting is an essential service.

“We are closely monitoring directives from the governor and public health officials that may impact the administration of elections in California,” a statement from Padilla’s office said. “Secretary Padilla has been engaging directly with county elections officials — including hosting a conference call today — to understand the impacts of this unprecedented pandemic on their staffing and ability to meet established elections deadlines.”

Options are being reviewed and “any changes to election administration will be made in collaboration with the county elections officials, the Legislature, and governor,” the statement said.

“We all take pride in the resiliency of our democracy. Our state has delivered free, fair, and healthy elections throughout our nation’s history in times of war, in times of peace, and in times of crisis. We can and must do so again,” Padilla said.

In Contra Costa County, Judge Susanne M. Fenstermacher won re-election by amassing nearly 75% of the vote, but there were more than 30,500 ballots that remain to be counted as of March 13.

“As of right now we’re an essential office,” Tyler Stull, an administrative analyst for Contra Costa County said. “The election office needs to stay open to certify the results of the primary of the election. Unless we get an extension from the secretary of state, we plan on certifying the election by the due date. We stage all of our workstations to be at least six feet apart, we have protective gear, sanitizer for the employees.”

A program allowing members of the public to watch the ballot counting will continue, except appointments are necessary as of Monday, the county said.

Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin remained optimistic about completing the canvass.

“As long as we can continue to come into the office and accept the ballots and have the equipment we need to conduct the canvass, we will,” Pellerin said, “We’ve lost some staff because of age and health concerns, and we’re losing more this week due to child care issues, but we’re still full steam ahead trying to get it done. The law requires us to certify by March 31st, which is a holiday, so I assume it moves to the next business day, which will be April 1st, but we’re hoping to be done by then.”

“As you know, everything is changing by the hour,” she added. “In the past, if we couldn’t make our certification deadline we would have to go to court and get an extension, so we’re hoping the secretary of state can do that in one fell swoop, so we don’t have 58 counties all trying to do that at once.”

The only district attorney race in the state remained too close to call Monday as Los Angeles County incumbent Jackie Lacey held a lead over opponents George Gascon and Rachel A. Rossi. In the past week, Lacey had fallen from commanding just above 50% of the vote to 49.25% at press time Monday. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder and County Clerk closed its offices to the public Monday, but this has not affected the ballot counting.

“We’re certainly enabling best practices. We’re practicing social distancing, and we’ve let our employees know that if they’re feeling sick or if a family member is sick to stay at home,” said Mike Sanchez, spokesman for the registrar. “If our employees are not feeling sick or showing symptoms, they’re being asked to report to their normal duties. As of right now it’s not really impacting things as it relates to the canvass. This is not going to impact the certification timeline as of right now.”

“We’re going to take it day by day,” he added.