Austin Allison campaign launch party.

Blue America may have a throbbing hangover, but it was a good night for progressive causes in Humboldt County and especially the City of Eureka. Barring a miracle, Austin Allison will be the next Eureka City Councilmember from the Fourth Ward. Measure V — the mobile home rent control initiative — has passed. Eureka’s “true ward” initiative has passed.

There are still thousands of votes left to count — absentee ballots and early voting ballots received too late to be included in this “election night final” report, which was published early this morning. How many votes are still out there? Clerk-Recorder Kelly Sanders will give us an official tally at some point, but history seems to tell us that it’ll be a very high number. In the 2012 general election, 46,968 votes were counted on election night, but the total number of votes in the official tally, released some four weeks later, was 58,092.

By contrast, only 35,223 votes were counted on election night this time around. Was turnout that much lower than it was in 2012, or were lots more absentee ballots left uncounted? Depending on the answer, there could be anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 votes still outstanding. That is a lot of votes.

Still, it’s hard to pick out a race that could flip based on the late vote. There aren’t many cliffhangers, here. Perhaps supporters of Measure U — the half-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects — have some reason to hope; the measure was down 57-43 in the first results released last night, but the gap narrowed to 52-48 by the time all the election day votes were counted. In the past, late absentee votes have paralleled the election day vote.

Elsewhere, the margins seem safe. Full results below.