Durfee takes lead in latest vote count

Incumbent Debra Lucero trails by 605 votes, tally isn’t final

CHICO » The Butte County Elections Office published its latest update to the two supervisor races as well as the assessor race.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, Debra Lucero, who had previously been narrowly leading Peter Durfee in the supervisor District 2 race, was trailing behind at 45.01% while Durfee has tentatively hit 50.76% of votes counted.

Carl Jeffries, who was also in the running, hit 4.23% of the vote.

In total, Durfee received 5,342 votes, Lucero received 4,737 and Jeffries got 445.

“I’m cautiously optimistic until it’s final,” Durfee said, adding that the voter turnout was smaller than he would have hoped. “I’m excited that people turned out to vote even though it’s not the exact numbers we were hoping for, but obviously the people who turned out are ready for a change. We’ll see what happens in a few days.”

Butte County Clerk-Recorder Candice Grubbs, who oversees the elections office, said the update is still not the final count.

“We’re not going to certify until June 24,” Grubbs said. “We have longer than that, but we’re going to try and get our canvas done by then.”

Grubbs said the one percent hand count will begin Monday and that ballots contested by the county have been sent back to the voters who will then have until June 22 to resubmit them.

It is possible that the District 2 race could result in a runoff election this November if neither Lucero and Durfee achieve more than 50% of the vote in the final count. That would mean the two would go head to head again in the fall.

Lucero said there were still ballots to count but she is looking forward to the process coming to an end.

District 3 incumbent Tami Ritter had 68.67% of the vote over her challenger Mary Murphy-Waldorf

who received 31.33% as of the latest update Friday evening.

Ritter said she thought part of the overwhelming victory was a result of the mapping process and controversy that took place last year when the board

selected its newest district map.

“This is the impact of the gerrymandered maps as much as the District 2 race,” Ritter said. “And so we should all be more committed to a transparent and open process that is not controlled by a political party when we redistrict next time.”

In the assessor race, Alyssa Douglass kept her considerable lead over Michael Howard and Randall Stone, though it shrunk minutely in the latest update.

Douglass sits at 59.02% of the vote while Howard reached 21.04% and Stone hit 19.95%.

State, national offices

Assemblyman James Gallagher won 57.79% of the vote over his challenger David Leon Zink who received 42.21% in Butte County but in terms of all of Assembly District 3, Gallagher has a 63.3% lead against Zink.

According to the Secretary of State’s California election results, Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) is sitting at 54.9% with challenger Max Steiner (DChico) is the next closest at 35.3%. In Butte County, the two had a much closer race with LaMalfa at 48.71% and Steiner at $43.16%.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has maintained a considerable 56.5% lead over Brian Dahle, the candidate with the next highest vote total at 17.2% statewide. In Butte County, Newsom got 41.57% of the vote with Dahle getting 33.5%.

In California, the top two vote getters in primary elections for state and national offices go head to head in the general election. Gallagher will run against Zink again, LaMalfa will run against Steiner, and Newsom will run against Dahle in November’s general election.