LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The effort to finalize the vote count for the Nov. 4 statewide special election on Proposition 50 is nearing its close.

On Monday, the Lake County Registrar of Voters offices said it’s down to the final 242 unprocessed ballots to count, all of them vote-by-mail ballots that require further review. 

Immediately after the Nov. 4 election, the elections office reported having more than 10,500 votes to count, a number that is not unusual following a larger election.

On the state level, the vote count continues to hold strongly in favor of the “yes vote,” with 7,440,072 votes, or 64.4%, to 4,111,066 “nos”, or 35.6%

Last week, the numbers posted on the California Secretary of State’s website showed that the narrow lead of a few hundred votes in favor of the measure on the local level had flipped and the no vote was leading by a small margin of less than 30 votes

This week’s report showed that the lead has grown to 55 votes, with the preliminary numbers in Lake County breaking down as follows:

• Yes: 10,344 votes, or 49.9%    
• No: 10,389 votes, or 50.1% percent.

The vote results won’t be considered final until they are certified by the state.

The Registrar of Voters Office said it will certify the election results on Dec. 2.

The Secretary of State’s Office plans to certify the final results on Dec. 12.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, and on Bluesky, @erlarson.bsky.social. Find Lake County News on the following platforms: Facebook, @LakeCoNews; X, @LakeCoNews; Threads, @lakeconews, and on Bluesky, @lakeconews.bsky.social.