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   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.misc   
   From: nospam@ix.netcom.com   
      
   While Santa Monica voters backed a slate of progressive, liberal   
   candidates for City Council this week, voters took a slightly more   
   conservative turn in some regional and state races.   
      
   The Unity Slate of Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell and Natalya   
   Zernitskaya remained on the top spots Thursday for City Council. While it   
   is still mathematically possible for current Mayor Phil Brock to pick up   
   enough votes to retain his seat, it is highly unlikely he would do so.   
      
   Brock has been stuck in fifth place since Election Day. He needs to gain   
   about 1,000 votes to climb into fourth and as of Thursday, the County had   
   about 3,500 outstanding ballots to count from Santa Monica voters. While   
   it is possible for more outstanding ballots to arrive through next week   
   (ballots postmarked by Election Day will be counted), Brock has to outpace   
   his rivals by a 2-1 margin to pull ahead and it is highly unlikely that   
   such a high concentration of voters for any one candidate would be   
   clustered in those final ballots.   
      
   While Brock’s slatemates Oscar de la Torre, Vivian Roknian seem close in   
   voter percentage (reporting 10.7% and 10.15% respectively vs. the 12.54%   
   needed to claim a council seat), they are even further behind Brock in the   
   actual vote count and each needs more than 2,000 votes.   
      
   At the county level, Santa Monicans were on par with the region in backing   
   the more conservative Nathan Hochman over incumbent District Attorney   
   George Gason. About 54% of Santa Monica voters backed Hochman in his   
   effort to unseat the more liberal Gascon. Locals were also on par with the   
   state in opposing the expansion of rent control as 54% of local voters   
   voted “no” on Prop 33. It was a similar outcome for supporting harsher   
   criminal penalties via Prop 36 with 54% of locals voting in favor.   
      
   Voters overwhelming supported repealing the state ban on same-sex marriage   
   and backed new funding for schools by a 2-1 margin. Locals supported   
   efforts to lower voting thresholds to approve new bonds for housing and   
   supported a ban on forced labor for prisoners by similar margins (although   
   both of those appear headed for defeat at the state level). Santa Monicans   
   bucked the state trend and supported raising the minimum wage.   
      
   Locals backed Democrat Adam Schiff over his Republican rival Steve Garvey   
   almost 4-1.   
      
   Countywide, the total election results count is now 2,696,482, which is   
   47% of registered voters. According to the Registrar of Voters, a large   
   number of Vote by Mail ballots were returned on Election Day and their   
   office continues to prioritize the timely processing of these ballots to   
   establish a clear number of outstanding ballots in this election.   
      
   The preliminary estimate of outstanding ballots to be processed is   
   1,116,100 countywide.   
      
   Final vote results will be reported in the Official Election Canvas, a 30-   
   day period in which the registrar processes and verifies all outstanding   
   ballots to ensure that every eligible ballot cast by Election Day is   
   counted.   
      
   https://smdp.com/2024/11/08/santa-monica-voters-back-hochman-and-harsher-   
   criminal-penalties-while-opposing-rent-control-expansion/   
      
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