[Update, Nov. 16:] With a cumulative total of 4,261,742 ballots counted in LA County as of Friday, Nov. 13, Bruce Lee Silverstein, Steve Uhring and Paul Grisanti continued to hold a lead in the Malibu City Council election of Nov. 3, 2020.
City Council:
Bruce Lee Silverstein, 2,395
Steve Uhring, 2,285
Paul Grisanti, 2,248
Doug Stewart, 2,088
Andy Lyon, 2,072
Mark Wetton, 1,988
Rick Mullen, 1,590
Lance Simmens, 992
Measure T (hotel tax increase):
Yes, 3,404 (56.36%)
No, 2,636 (43.64%)
SMMUSD Board of Education:
Jon Kean, 23,377
Maria Leon-Vazquez, 22,154
Jennifer Smith, 21,053
Jason Feldman, 13,898
Keith Coleman, 13,492
Esther Hickman, 12,229
Steven Johnson, 9,957
Dhun May, 8,362
Los Angeles County tallied a total of 5,709,853 ballots as of Tuesday evening, Nov. 10, one week after Election Day. Of those, more than 3.35 million, or 79.75 percent, came from vote-by-mail ballots, while 20.25 percent, or nearly 853,000, were cast at one of the county’s more than 700 vote centers.
The LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office wrote on Tuesday that data from an estimated 142,715 ballots remained to be counted; the majority of the remaining uncounted ballots were vote-by-mail ballots returned to vote centers and drop boxes on Election Day or postmarked by Election Day, meaning that an estimated 96.7 percent of all votes cast in LA County have now been tabulated.
With Skylar Peak and Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner termed out of city council office this year, Malibu City Council Member Rick Mullen was looking to secure his second term on council, which he failed to do, falling to seventh place in a close election race. The top three vote-getters will join Mayor Mikke Pierson and Council Member Karen Farrer on the city’s governing board.
The top council candidates’ ranking had not changed since election night, even as more votes continue to come in, and remained as of Tuesday evening:
Bruce Lee Silverstein, 2,376
Steve Uhring, 2,265
Paul Grisanti, 2,241
Doug Stewart, 2,081
Andy Lyon, 2,053
Mark Wetton, 1,977
Rick Mullen, 1,572
Lance Simmens, 984
Measure T, the proposed increase in transient occupancy tax (hotel tax) in Malibu from 12 to 15 percent, received 56.43 percent of the vote, with 43.57 percent of voters casting ballots against the increase.
In the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education race, incumbents Jon Kean (with 23,217 votes) and Maria Leon-Vazquez (with 21,984 votes) will join newcomer Jennifer Smith (who earned 20,913 votes) for another four-year term on school board. The three came out far ahead in another field of eight candidates.
Current school board member Oscar de la Torre earned a seat on Santa Monica City Council, meaning another school board seat will soon be vacant.
In LA County, George Gascón beat incumbent Jackie Lacey in the district attorney race, earning 53 percent of the votes to Lacey’s 46 percent. That contest, with Gascón positioning himself as a reform candidate, was seen as a referendum on law enforcement in the county together with the passage of Measure J, a county measure that will redirect “no less than” 10 percent of the county’s general fund revenues to “address the disproportionate impact of racial injustice through community investment and alternatives to incarceration.”
Malibu’s U.S. House representative Ted Lieu, an incumbent Democrat, beat challenger James P. Bradley, a Republican.
In the California Assembly, 50th district race, incumbent Democrat Richard Bloom won in a landslide victory over newcomer Will Hess, also a Democrat, earning just more than 80 percent of votes cast.
California Senator Henry Stern, a Democrat, also earned re-election, taking 64 percent of votes against Republican Houman Salem.
When it came to the presidential race, former vice president Joe Biden and running mate, first-term U.S. Senator for California Kamala Harris, took 71.20 percent of votes cast in LA County, to incumbent president Donald J. Trump’s 26.74 percent.
There are 5,709,853 registered voters in LA County. If the county registrar’s estimation is correct, voter turnout for the 2020 General Election reached 76.26 percent.