The latest Berkeley vote tallies, updated with some of the vote by mail and provisional ballots, have further narrowed the gap on Measure T, which would revise some of the zoning in West Berkeley. Overnight, opponents to Measure T had a 123 vote lead. That’s now down to 26 votes.
Measure S remains close, but the gap is still significant at 1,001.
Alameda County Registrar of Voters Dave Macdonald released the latest figures this afternoon shortly after 4:00 p.m. and will be doing so daily until all the ballots are processed.
“This election has been very typical,” Macdonald said, responding to questions about the volume of uncounted ballots. “We have 100,000 vote by mail and 40,000 provisional ballots left countywide. It’s been a very smooth election.”
Macdonald acknowledged that Berkeley presented a particularly challenging task for voters in that there were four ballot papers to deal with.
A couple of hundred employees — a majority temporary staff swelling the office’s 26 permanent staff number — were hard at work at the Registrar’s office on Wednesday, using a scanner to check signatures and manually monitoring ballots for double voting. Macdonald said the election day help desk had fielded about 200 calls yesterday, which was normal. There were no unusual challenges with the Berkeley votes, he said.
The certified, final vote is required within 28 days of the election, he said, and he expects his staff to be finished by Nov. 21. Macdonald said that while some counties only report at the end of the 28-day legal limit, Alameda prides itself in finishing in time for Thanksgiving.
View a photo gallery of democracy in action as Alameda County Registrar employees continue to process outstanding ballots.
Related:
Mayor Bates hails election as harbinger of change [11.07.12]
Remaining Berkeley votes could change close contests [11.07.12]
Live blogging the Berkeley elections: all the final results [11.06.12]
Measure T: Will it enhance or ruin West Berkeley? [10.29.12]
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