UPDATE, 12:30 a.m.: ADDENDUM: Humboldt County Says No to Open Government

PROP. 42: Yes: 47.02%. No: 52.98%.

But the state as a whole passed it big. Also: Veteran’s Bonds (Prop. 41) won handily.

— Hank Sims

UPDATE, 12:17 a.m.:

We heard there was much talk of the famous Sims Doctrine on Access Humboldt and elsewhere tonight, but give it up, people: Virginia Bass has got this thing. There’s no way Kerrigan can make up 300 votes out of whatever late absentees remain.

Likewise, Fleming has this thing well in the bag. Pretty shocking.

Congratulations, Maggie Fleming and Virginia Bass and Ryan Sundberg! Consolations, Sharon Latour and Chris Kerrigan and Elan Firpo / Allan Dollison / Arnie Klein! 

— Hank Sims

UPDATE, 12:10 a.m.: New elections result posted

— LoCO Staff

UPDATE, 11:17 p.m.: Caffrey Concedes Race for US Representative

Humboldt resident Andy Caffrey conceded with his Twitter account, “I’m quite sure I’ve lost the election. With almost 40% of the votes counted: Huffman 68%, Mensing 22.9%, Caffrey 9.2%.”

— Kym Kemp

UPDATE, 11:12 p.m.: Firpo Not Ready to Concede

There are still lots of votes yet to be counted, including many from the politically unpredictable hinterlands, and DA candidate Elan Firpo said she’s still feeling good.

“I was expecting the early returns to break for Maggie [Fleming],” she said.

Her party in the balcony at the Oberon Grill had dwindled to eight or nine die-hard supporters, who sat around sipping wine and conversing. Firpo herself had a glass of red in hand as she reflected on the trail.

“One way or the other I feel good about the campaign,” she said. “No regrets.”

— Ryan Burns

UPDATE, 11:10 p.m.: New elections result posted

— LoCO Staff

UPDATE, 11:03 p.m.: Dollison Soldiers On

Political odd couple of the evening? ACLU chair Greg Allen was spotted at Allan Dollison’s party at Fifth Street Eureka just as it was wrapping up. Allen hesitated to call himself an official Dollison supporter, seeing as how the election ain’t technically done yet and the ACLU might host more debates or something, but he didn’t hesitate to offer and assessment. “I think he’s an excellent candidate,” Allen said.

Dollison said that he’d be waiting up for final results, but didn’t mind talking a bit about his personal future. He anticipated going back to his private law practice. He offered a final critical take on the front-runner: “If I were Maggie, I would have talked about the issues more. I don’t think voters know what they’re getting.”

Dollison campaign manager Jim Ferguson, Allen, the candidate.

— Hank Sims

UPDATE, 10:50 p.m.: Update From The Palm

(Supervisorial candidate Chris Kerrigan speaks to KMUD radio in the lobby of the Eureka Inn.)

“Well that’s a lot better.”

An optimistic Chris Kerrigan crowded with a few other supporters around your LoCO correspondent’s laptop as the evening’s second report rolled in courtesy of the Humboldt County Board of elections. The new numbers showed a gap narrowed — with 43 percent of precincts reporting, candidate Kerrigan trailed opponent Virginia Bass by a 55 percent to 44 percent margin. Kerrigan flashed a thumbs up to his boosters.  

“We need 3,500 votes to win,” Kerrigan estimated. 

Throughout the night the challenger has accepted well-wishes from often tipsy supporters. After a long party music-heavy DJ set, local singer/songwriter Sarah Torres took to the stage for an unplugged version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” 

As of 10:45 p.m. the crowd at the Palm Lounge has thinned a bit. Many “Basskickers” have been consumed.

— Andrew Goff

UPDATE, 10:43 p.m.: Bass Party Grows Serious

“Second results are in,” someone cried from the thinned-out crowd of Virginia Bass supporters in the banquet room of the Sea Grill.

The room grew quiet as people gathered around iPads and cell phones to peruse the results. When they saw them, they stayed quiet. The second batch of ballots broke toward Kerrigan by more than 60-40, cutting Bass’s lead by more than half.

Lots of quiet math conversations ensued. How many of the Eureka votes are in? How many are left?

“I expected Chris to do better with polling place voters,” Bass said. A minute later she added, “It would just be nice if they could get [the rest of the results] in before midnight.”

— Ryan Burns

UPDATE, 10:17 p.m.: Klein Holds Head High

“Well, I don’t think we’re going to win, but we made a mark,” said Arnie Klein a few moments ago, before the second wave of results came in, at his festive but sparsely attended party.

In between urging food on his guests — pretty nice looking flan — Klein looked back on his race, and said that he was grateful for the support of the many friends, old and new, that rallied round his candidacy. He asked this reporter to pass a message on to Maggie Fleming:

“Tell Ms. Fleming that I have nothing but the utmost respect for her.”

Klein and his fiance/campaign manager.

— Hank Sims

UPDATE, 10:15 p.m.: New elections result posted

— LoCO Staff

UPDATE, 9:28 p.m.: Voting Light in Southern Humboldt

Election turnout in Southern Humboldt was light according to poll workers. For instance, as of 6:30 p.m, the Miranda polling place which has 1088 registered voters had only had 110 people cast votes. There had been a few additional voters bringing their mail in ballots to the polling place but, as a whole, election worker Carolyn Crews said turnout had been low. She attributed it to relatively little campaigning in the area. Her fellow worker, Toni Stoffel, pointed out that a normal year might see three to four hundred ballots cast in Miranda.

Poll workers in all three Southern Humboldt locations were using a new tablet system with bar codes to enter which residents showed up to cast their votes.  According to the mostly enthusiastic workers, the the system worked well. Susan Thompson, a poll worker in Garberville, said that there had only been one small glitch which had quickly been fixed. 

“I was a little bit crabby at first,” said election worker Donna King about having to learn the new system but she added that she quickly changed her mind.  “The verification process can happen more easily now,” she said with a grin. “I feel comfortable with it.” 

Miranda polling place at South Fork High School abuts an area where some work on facilities has already started.

Voter Janet Young, a teacher in Redway, said that the many people didn’t vote in Southern Humboldt because they weren’t aware of the issues. According to Young and several other voters, the two most important parts of the ballot for Southern Humboldt were the District Attorney race and Measure N. Being a teacher, Young said, Measure N, a bond authorization proposition to acquire money to improve classrooms and other school facilities in the Southern Humboldt Unified School District was very important to her. This year, she said, she had attempted to raise rainbow trout in her classroom. Trying to keep the water cool enough with the classrooms heating up on warm days was a problem. “It was all I could do to keep the fish alive,” she pointed out and added, “If the fish are dying, are the students able to pay attention when they are sweating bullets?”

Young also said that that the District Attorney race was very important in Southern Humboldt. “So much is up in the air in terms of the whole marijuana question which has  a huge impact in this area. It would be nice to see someone clamping down on water theft and bulldozing forests to put in greenhouses.”

With low turnouts, it may be that a very few voters will be deciding what could be some very big issues for the Southern Humboldt community.

— Kym Kemp

UPDATE, 9:28 p.m.:

The mood at the Sea Grill — Bass HQ for the evening — remains ebullient. As new people walk in, many are offering congratulations to both Bass and husband Matthew Owen, both of whom warn that it’s still early yet.

Moments ago Owen clinked a glass to silence the cheerful clamor so that Bass could give an early speech thanking supporters. It wasn’t quite a victory speech, but the tenor was awash in relief.

“Thank you for being here. That you for believing — and for the volunteers,” Bass said.

Owen also chimed in. “On behalf of Richard Marks and myself, thank you for putting up with all of my calls,” he said. “Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

Bass told the Outpost that she was up at 4:30 this morning and still making calls to potential voters at quarter to eight this evening.

Local politicos in attendance include at least 60 percent of the Eureka City Council — Mike Newman, Marian Brady and Chet Albin — along with Harbor Commissioner Richard Marks and former county Planning Commissioner Dennis Mayo.

Before the speeches wrapped up, Marks offered another vote of confidence: “I’m a statistician,” he said, adding that the chance of a Kerrigan comeback after such a strong showing in the early absentee results was “almost an impossibility.”

But a few minutes later, both Marks and Owen were checking in with this reporter and his glowing laptop to see if any new results were in yet.

— Ryan Burns

UPDATE, 9:19 p.m.: Jubilation in Flemingland

There are perhaps 100 or so people at Maggie Fleming’s party at Carson Park Design, and boy are they a happy bunch. No one seems yet prepared to out and call it, but there is a feeling in the air that maybe this thing ain’t going to go to November after all. 

“I am hoping and praying,” says former DA Candidate Kathleen Bryson. “But Maggie has already won my heart.”

In any case, Fleming’s dominating lead among early absentee voters — the biggest group of the night — has the party well lubricated. People are milling around, chatting, laughing. Lots of laughing.

The food scene here is too insane and voluminous to document completely. There are several rooms, each with their own platters of grub. Wontons, chicken wings vegetables.

— Hank Sims

UPDATE, 8:35 p.m.: Bass Supporter Declares Victory

Bass is at the Sea Grill … and not just on the menu! (Rimshot!) 

Fourth District County Supervisor Virginia Bass showed up at the Old Town eatery shortly after 8 p.m., and just a few minutes later supporter Richard Marks, cellphone to his ear, called out, “Hey Virginia! Just to let you know, you won the race.”

Marks was reacting to news that the 2,256 first absentee ballots in the district broke 61.6 percent in Bass’s favor, with Kerrigan getting just 38.3 percent. 

Bass said she’s “guardedly optimistic,” though she expects votes from the polling places and the late absentees to be a bit more favorable for Kerrigan. 

“Woulda been nice to get 65 [percent], but …,” she said.

— Ryan Burns

UPDATE, 8:35 p.m.: New elections result posted

— LoCO Staff

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: FIRST REPORT

With the polls closed, the Humboldt County elections office has released its first vote tally of the evening. Keep in mind these numbers exclusively reflect absentee ballots: 

Fourth District Supervisor:
61.61% - Virginia Bass
38.25% - Chris Kerrigan

Fifth District Supervisor:
65.81% - Ryan Sundberg
33.97% - Sharon Latour

District Attorney:
63.69% - Maggie
22.62% - Elan Firpo
  8.67% - Allan Dollison
  4.83% - Arnie Klein 

— Andrew Goff

UPDATE, 8:23 p.m.: New elections result posted

— LoCO Staff

UPDATE, 8:21 p.m.:

People were still trickling into Elan Firpo’s do at the Oberon Grill a few minutes ago. The candidate hadn’t shown up yet — still out working the field — but Gregg Foster, Emily Jacobs, John Chiv, Neal Ewald and Marian Brady were among the early arrivers.

Brady, the Eureka City Councilmember who did the graphics for Firpo’s campaign and spent the day phonebanking for her, said that she was certain that the DA’s race would go to a runoff. She “hoped” that Firpo would come in first.

People were sipping on some of Oberon’s wine — the red, mostly, it looked like. The snack centerpiece at the time was this sumptuous brie and crudite spread, but there were kabobs and “cheese balls” also.

— Hank Sims

UPDATE, 7:41 p.m.: Your Palm Lounge Election Night Drink Menu

What is an election night shindig without drinks?

Eureka Inn staff are setting up for Chris Kerrigan’s campaign either-victory-or-defeat party in the Eureka-swanky Palm Lounge. And there are a few specials on the menu (see above). 

In the event that you can’t make it down tonight and you’d still like to suck down a patriotic-looking “Basskicker,” your Lost Coast Outpost exclusively presents the recipe below:

• 1¼ oz. Humboldt Vodka
• ½ oz. Triple Sec
• fresh-squeezed lemon
• dollop of cream of coconut
• sink of blue curaçao 
• top with strawberry garnish

“It’s pretty and sweet, but it’s not my favorite,” said the bartender who made the batch below.

— Andrew Goff

UPDATE, 5:43 p.m.: Sharon Latour on the Hustings in McKinleyville

Allan Dollison wasn’t the only candidate flying their own sign on the streets today. 

“We won,” says Fifth District Supervisorial candidate Sharon Latour in this short interview.

— Mike Dronkers

UPDATE, 5:13 p.m.: Dollison Down to the Wire

Now that’s the spirit. 

Your Lost Coast Outpost has been tooling around Eureka for much of today and in only one instance did we see someone holding a sign that just happened to feature their own name. That person was Allan Dollison, who could be seen posted up at the corner of Myrtle and West. When we first spotted the DA candidate he was distracted by his cell phone, which can be forgiven on such a high stakes day, we suppose. 

Polls close in less than three hours. Every vote counts.

— Andrew Goff