City College Board Race Still Undecided

According to the Department of Elections, there are approximately 4,355 ballots left to be counted. The vast majority (4,000) are provisional ballots – which means that the voter’s name was not on the official list at their polling place, and the Department had to verify that they were in fact registered. All of these 4,000 provisional ballots have been ruled valid, and it is now just a question of counting them. The remaining 355 ballots are late absentees -- absentee ballots that were received by the Elections Department on or right before Election Day (usually dropped off at a polling place.)

“We feel excited and encouraged because John Rizzo is only 81 votes behind and almost all absentee ballots have already been counted,” said Aimee Harcos, Rizzo’s campaign manager. “Provisional voters tend to be progressive voters, so we are confident and hopeful, yet understandably nervous. I would like to thank the Department of Elections for working so diligently.”

While the trend has become less predictable as more San Francisco progressives vote absentee, this assessment is probably correct. On Election Night, the first ballots to be counted are the early absentees – which tend to be the most conservative voters. For example, in the District 6 race, Rob Black led Chris Daly among the early absentees. When the early absentees came in for the College Board race, Rizzo was way behind Carter and did not expect to win based on those returns. But when the Election Day votes were counted, Rizzo surged ahead by approximately 3,000 votes.

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