A visualization of what the Arcata flagpole will soon look like, probably, courtesy Earth Flag booster-upper Dave Meserve.

If the election office’s initial estimate was accurate, it looks like we’ve now tallied up almost all the ballots that were left untallied on election night (Nov. 8). This morning, the office released another report with another 9,279 votes recorded, which would put us somewhere in the range of 1,000 votes or so left to count.

That said, we can now definitively call some races!

In the countywide race for clerk-recorder/registrar of voters, Juan Pablo Cervantes has handily defeated his coworker, Tiffany Hunt Nielsen, by a margin (at this moment) of 55.96 percent to 44.04 percent. Bit of a turnaround from the June primary, when Nielsen finished just ahead of Cervantes.

In the Eureka City Council races, G. Mario Fernandez is a lock for the Ward 3 seat, with 52.93 percent of the vote tallied to challenger John Fullerton’s 47.07 percent. This is just the latest humiliation for old-school Eureka conservatism, which hasn’t won an election in any of the city’s wards in the last six years or so.

Meanwhile, the relatively unknown Renee Contreras de Loach has shocked Old Town businessman Nicholas Kohl in the race for the Ward 5 seat, with 53.47 percent of the vote counted. And local activist Julie Ryan, who works for Food for People, has ousted longtime conservative stalwart Alan Bongio from his seat on the board of the Humboldt Community Services District, which serves the traditionally conservative Cutten area, among other Eureka outskirts.

The come-from-behind victory of this cycle: Arcata’s Measure M, an ordinance to hang the Earth Flag at the top of city flagpoles. The “yes” tally now stands at 51.24 percent, which means that it should sail to victory. Expect a court challenge, which should be fun!

View full results here. See you in 2024!