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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Californians on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50 to redraw congressional boundaries.
Based on the preliminary vote count, Lake County delivered only a narrow win in favor of the measure on election day.
However, the vote count is expected to change during the official canvass, which will continue until the election is certified on Dec. 12, so how Lake County ultimately decided on the matter won’t be certain for weeks.
The passing of Proposition 50 means California will temporarily adopt new congressional district maps drawn by the Legislature, giving Democrats a better chance of winning up to five additional House seats from Republicans in the next midterm election.
For many, putting the matter on the ballot is a response to Republican gerrymandering, where President Trump urged GOP-led states to redraw their districts.
“We put Prop 50 on the ballot and voters passed it today in direct response to Texas Republicans’ choice to draw and pass a new, rigged Congressional map without input from voters,” Congressman Mike Thompson said in a statement after its passage. “That’s anti-democratic, plain and simple.”
Statewide, the preliminary count as of 2 a.m. Wednesday showed that voters approved the proposition by nearly a 2-to-1 margin: 63.8% in favor and 36.2% opposed.
Whereas in Lake County, the results were much tighter, with a difference of just 236 votes. Of all the 10,358 votes counted by Tuesday night, 51.14%, or 5,297, were in favor and 48.86% or 5,061, opposed.
These numbers include 8,732 vote-by-mail ballots received and counted by Nov. 4, and 1,630 ballots turned in to the 20 polling places around the county on the election day.
They do not include ballots turned in at the six drop boxes around the county, because those ballots require signature verification before counting.
The rest of the vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Nov. 4 and received by Nov. 12 will also be counted at a later date upon receiving.
Those who showed up at polling stations on Tuesday seem to display a differing preference: out of the 1,630 votes cast, 1,010, or 61.96% voted against the proposition — against both the local and state trends.
Regardless of the final local results, however, congressional redistricting will take place.
For Lake County, it means Thompson will cease to serve most of the county except for a portion in the south.
“I love my current district, and I will continue to serve the people in our community with dedication and to work with the candidate elected to represent the First District,” Thompson said in a statement. “I am also excited and energized to work with the local leaders in our newly-formed Fourth District to serve our community and address the issues important to them.”
Final hours of election night
As the statewide special election unfolded amid the debate over gerrymandering, the Lake County Registrar of Voters office on Forbes Street in Lakeport carried on with a sense of order, calmness as well as some warmth.
While the office waited for vehicles delivering ballots from across the county, an unexpected visitor from the recent Halloween weekend — a black spider roughly an inch long — was spotted roaming the lobby. A young election worker took it out, declining the suggestion to kill it.
Shortly after 9 p.m., cars began arriving intermittently, with one from Upper Lake arriving first. As soon as ballots came in and were sorted, counting started at the scanning machine, with two people operating at each station.
The office grew busier and quieter as waves of ballots were delivered and poll workers departed.
For the special election, the registrar’s office deployed five permanent staff, five to six extra help personnel, and two IT staff, with supervisors Bruno Sabatier and Brad Rasmussen volunteering at the site, Registrar of Voters Maria Valadez told Lake County News.
Valadez said throughout the day that seven people stayed on the phone answering voters’ questions, from lost ballots to changed addresses, just as in past elections. At least one person was always at the counter.
Ballots were processed orderly and quickly once unloaded into the office.
“We have a great team here,” said Valadez. “We are really organized; we have to be organized.”
“Shoutout to our poll workers too because they rock,” she added.
“We were doing great. We always have a good turnout but we don’t have lines. Our counting was perfect and there’s no mistake,” Precinct 381 Inspector India Akua Mendonca, who has worked at polling stations for over 10 years, told Lake County News as she signed off at the office after delivering the ballots. “We have a great team.”
The expected storm on the night didn’t materialize, but hints were dropped that it might just come soon.
“It starts sprinkling,” Valadez announced, panning in from the parking lot as staff continued waiting for the ballots. The clock had just turned 10:30 p.m.
The night ended after the final ballot was counted at 11:25 p.m.; counting to be continued.
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