After 12 updates, the Lassen County Registrar of Voters declares all ballots counted.
Over 7,000 ballots were cast in Lassen’s Presidential Primary on March 5th.
For Lassen, Superior Court Judge Bob Burns secured nearly 60% of the vote against opponent Traci Witry. The race narrowed for Supervisor of District 1 between Chris Cole and Mike Scanlan, but Scanlan maintained his lead and secured the seat with just over 100 more votes. With another close race, a difference of 140 votes gave Incumbent Gary Bridges the win for Supervisor of District 2. Then, the top three candidates securing a place on the council for the City of Susanville are Curtis Bortle, Patrick Parrish, and Dawn Miller.
The county’s advisory measure, T & U, failed to get voter approval. The board will discuss the matter this Tuesday during its regular meeting. The measure aimed to garner voters’ thoughts on the county’s creation of a Lassen County Office of Director of Finance as an alternative to the Office of Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector, given the lack of candidates in prior elections. The decision rests in the board’s hands as the measures were advisory only.
Pluma County election also saw a tight race between Willam Abramson and Wayne Yates Jr. for Superior Court Judge. A difference of 56 votes saw Abramson take the win. Challenger Mimi Hall secured a strong lead right at the closing of the polls on March 5th over incumbent Greg Hagwood in the race for Supervisor of District 4, and she maintained that lead with 60% of the votes. Signaling constituents are ready to see change on the board of Supervisors.
A close watch was on Measure A, which was falling behind winning voter approval of a ¾ of a percent sales tax at the close of the polls and still fell short by nearly 460 votes. The measure needed to secure ⅔ voter approval to increase the sales tax to 8% for the county, bringing in an estimated 2.4 million for the sheriff’s office. Sheriff Johns said he knew it would be an uphill battle, but even if the measure failed, his department would continue to provide the county’s people the same level of protection and service it always has.
The sheriff will be requesting the board of supervisors this Tuesday to approve a Request to develop and implement a hiring incentive agreement to attract and retain qualified candidates for jail positions, which, as a result, would come from the county’s General Fund.
The state will have until April 12th to certify all county elections.
