Riverside County counted half its remaining ballots between Monday and Wednesday, but in at least one race involving a member of the Palm Springs City Council it still wasn’t enough to produce a clear winner.
Both Councilmember Christy Holstege and Mayor Pro Tem Grace Garner are in tight races. But only Garner has consistently increased her lead in recent days. The incumbent seeking re-election to the City Council in District 1 currently leads challenger Scott Nevins by 64 votes (1,455 to 1,391) — an increase of three from Monday in a contest that saw only 11 additional votes tallied when Wednesday’s numbers were released.
Democrat Holstege, seeking a seat in the State Assembly as the 47th District representative, has been unable to pull away from Republican challenger Greg Wallis. She led by roughly 100 votes after San Bernardino finished its count Monday, but now only leads by 52 — 83,978 to 83,926. Wednesday’s tally in Riverside County broke 50.6% to 49.4% in favor of Wallis.
The county reported 4,000 ballots remain to be counted. The next update is promised for Tuesday, Nov. 29. All counties in the state must certify their elections by Dec. 8.
Garner, who would become the city’s first Latina mayor if re-elected, picked up an additional seven votes in the count released Wednesday, while Nevins picked up four. She holds a 51% to 49% edge, which is likely enough to beat Nevins with less than 1% of the county’s vote left to tally. She had trailed at the end of vote counting on Election Day but overtook Nevins after vote totals were updated Nov. 16.
In other Palm Springs City Council races, nothing has changed, as both Jeffrey Bernstein and Ron deHarte are headed to the dais in December. Bernstein’s count against Renee Brown in the District 2 race is now 1,982 votes to 1,658 (54% to 46%). In District 3, deHarte leads Joy Meredith, 1,958 to 1,067 (65% to 35%).
Holstege is midway through her second term on the City Council as the District 4 representative. Should she win a seat in Sacramento, it would create a vacancy that would be filled by either a special election or an appointment. So far, four people have stepped up to say they would like to fill a potential vacancy.
You can track both the City Council and Assembly District 47 races here.
