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PREVIOUSLY

• The Blue Lake City Council Race Could Very Well End in a Tie. Here’s How It Would Get Decided.

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It happened. The Blue Lake City Council race ended with an exact tie for the third of three available seats this election season. The final election report, released Tuesday evening, shows that two candidates — incumbent councilmember/mayor Adelene Jones and challenger Kat Napier — each received 245 votes.

As we explored in a post last week, California Elections Code 15651 says that such ties must be resolved via a random selection process like drawing straws or pulling a name out of a hat.

Blue Lake City Manager Mandy Mager told the Outpost in an email that the city will hold a special meeting next Tuesday, Dec. 10, to resolve this tie and seat the new council, which will include victorious candidates Michelle Lewis-Lusso and John Sawatzky, who defeated incumbents Christopher Guy Firor and Christopher B. Edgar.

”During the meeting, the City Attorney and the City Clerk will introduce the tie-breaking process and will conduct the action,” Mager explained. 

What exactly will this drawing of lots look like? Mager said Jones and Napier’s names will be placed in envelopes, which will then be deposited into “some form of container.” A designated person (she didn’t say who that person will be, nor who will designate them) will draw an envelope from the container to determine the winner. That person — either Jones or Napier — will then immediately be seated alongside their fellow council members, and the meeting will commence. 

Dramatic! 

We reached Jones via phone earlier today. She said that as far as she can determine after discussing the matter with a former city clerk, this has never happened before in the City of Blue Lake.

“Unprecedented,” Jones remarked.

She said she’s been in contact with Humboldt County Clerk/Recorder and Registrar of Voters Juan P. Cervantes. She shared with him some concerns she had regarding people who may have cast ballots despite living outside of city limits, but Cervantes confirmed to her that all tallied votes had been verified.

A voicemail left for Napier was not returned by the time this post was published. 

Jones said this election cycle had more tension than she’s ever seen before in Blue Lake. She said a small group of people started coming to meetings “very upset.”

“It seemed to start when we talked about the need for low-income housing,” she said. “Some folks didn’t want that to happen.”

The city of Blue Lake has been mandated by the state of California to plan for at least 40 new units of housing, and with limited available real estate within city limits the council approved a multi-use residential and commercial project in the industrial Powers Creek District, to be built by Danco. 

“I have toured the projects that [Danco] did in Arcata,” Jones said. “They’re very nice. They have a manager onsite, energy efficiency and common grounds. I was in support of this, and that made some people not happy.”

She said that if the new council members plan to block new housing development they’ll have to deal with repercussions from the state, which has the authority to force local jurisdictions to plan for residential development. 

“I don’t know how they’re gonna fight the state,” Jones said. “The state can do what it wants.”

In recent weeks, Jones has been meeting up with a small group of supporters outside of the post office to discuss the latest developments, including each new report coming out of the Elections Office.

“All of my supporters have been very sweet,” she said. “We’ll see what happens.”

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No surprises in the rest of the final election report. Donald Trump got about 33.5% of the presidential vote countywide, compared to 62% for Kamala Harris. That’s a slightly higher percentage for Trump from four years ago and significantly higher than eight years ago, but due to lower overall turnout Trump actually received fewer Humboldt County votes than in 2018 2020.

Assembly candidate Chris Rogers will succeed Jim Wood, coasting to victory across the district, including here in Humboldt, where he outperformed Republican challenger Michael Greer 62.75% to 37.25%.

Incumbent U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman likewise clobbered his opponent, Chris Coulombe.

In Arcata, incumbents Stacy Atkins-Salazar, Sarah Schaefer and Alexandra Stillman all won their re-election bids, as previously reported. Likewise in Eureka incumbents Kati Moulton and Scott Bauer defeated challengers Kenny Carswell and Thavisak “Lucky” Syphanthong, respectively.

The strength of incumbents was also on display in Ferndale, where sitting council members Leonard Stephen Lund and Phillip Ostler were re-elected.

In Fortuna, incumbent Tami Trent was re-elected alongside Fortuna Ace Hardware owner and council newcomer Jerry D. King.

Humboldt County’s half 1 (per)cent sales tax initiative, Measure O, passed easily while Eureka’s pro-parking initiative, Measure F, went down in flames. 

Here’s a statement from the Elections Office, with a link to the elections results webpage:

All ballots for the Nov. 5, 2024, General Election have been verified and counted. The Humboldt County Registrar of Voters certified the election on Tuesday, Dec. 3. The certified results and official canvass certification is expected to be presented to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

“As we certify the results of the November 5th General Election, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the election workers, community members and voters who made this process possible,” said Humboldt County Clerk, Recorder and Registrar of Voters Juan P. Cervantes. “To those who gave up their weekends, worked long hours after their regular jobs, and prioritized participating in the democratic process - thank you. Your dedication is the foundation of our democracy. Democracy thrives on responsibility and daily acts of engagement. It is upheld by those who understand that their role extends beyond casting a ballot and continues through actions that ensure its promise remains strong in Humboldt County.”

For more information on the results of the election, please visit the Elections Results webpage or call 707-445-7481.