December 1st Local Election Results

ELECTION RESULTS AS OF 5:00 P.M., 12/1/16
The following are the local election results produced by the Orange County Registrar of Voters office as of 5:00 p.m. today, Wednesday, December 1, 2016.  The staff knocked out 7,353 ballots today, so there remain only 11,442  ballots left to count as of this evening.  Counting will continue every day until all votes are counted and the election is certified.  If you wish to view ALL the Orange County election results so far, click HERE.

COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL
Sandy Genis retains a lead over John Stephens of 224 votes.  Stephens leads Allan Mansoor by 2,679 votes.  Mansoor leads Mayor Steve Mensinger by 501 votes.  Jay Humphrey trails Mensinger by 182 votes.  Lee Ramos and Al Melone trail the field.

COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT
Incumbents Jim Ferryman and Art Perry continue to hold solid leads over their challengers.  Gary Monahan trails Perry 4,708 votes for the last seat available.  Jim Fitzpatrick and Christopher Luntsford trail the field.

MESA WATER DISTRICT
Incumbent Jim Fisler continues to hold an insurmountable lead over challenger Alex Reich.

GROWTH ISSUES
Measure Y, the Smart Growth Initiative, the citizen-generated measure, is passing by a more than 2-1 margin.  Measure Z, the City-generated measure to confuse the voters, is passing, but by a much smaller margin.

FAIRVIEW PARK ISSUES
Measure AA, the citizen-generated measure designed to protect Fairview Park from development, is passing by a huge margin - much more than 2-1.  Measure BB, the city-generated measure designed to confuse and fool the voters, is failing at the ballot box.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUES
Citizen-generated measures V and W, both of which proposed either 8 or 4 medical marijuana establishments in Costa Mesa, are failing badly at the polls.  Measure X, the City-generated initiative with NO retail sales element, is passing.

VOTE-BY-DISTRICTS
This measure, hijacked by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer, is passing.  This measure will dilute the intent - to provide greater potential representation for the Latino voters in Costa Mesa.  Instead, that effort is diluted by having 6 voting districts instead of 5 as overwhelmingly preferred by the residents who attended the workshops.  In addition, it adds the directly-elected mayor element.  Righeimer's legacy in this city might just be the permanent dilution of the Latino votes.

HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF CMSD BY MESA WATER
 This measure, which was placed on the ballot by the Board of the Mesa Water District as a stalking horse for the hostile takeover of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District by Mesa Water, was placed under false premises and is designed to fool the voters into thinking this is a good idea... it's not.

COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
All incumbents in these three races hold insurmountable leads over their challengers.  

NEWPORT MESA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Incumbents prevail in these three races, too, but not by the margins some anticipated.  While the old guard prevails, there seems to be a rumbling about new blood that might just find itself to the ballot box in two years.

74TH STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
Matt Harper is soundly defeating Karina Onofre

37TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT
John Moorlach is beating Ari Grayson

48TH UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE
Dana Rohrabacher is trouncing Dr. Suzanne Savary

WHAT'S LEFT TO COUNT?
Estimate of Ballots Left to Count - 11,442
Vote-by-Mail Ballots Left to Count - 92
Vote-by-Mail Ballots Returned at the Polls Left to Count - 63
Provisionals Left to Count - 11,287
Election Day Paper Ballots Left To Count - 0
Eligible Vote-by-Mail Ballots Received After Election Day Left to Count - 0

ALMOST OVER... BUT NOT QUITE YET
The way it's looking right now, for all practical purposes these elections are over.  However, we will continue to report the results until that big counter at the top of the "results" page says "FINAL".  In the meantime, I think I can hear that fat lady warming up her vocal chords.