7,000 Sutter County ballots remain

No outcomes have yet changed, but the Sutter County Elections Office posted an update Tuesday morning on last week’s balloting.

In the latest update, 2,600 additional ballots were included; Friday’s update included 1,800. Clerk-recorder Donna Johnston said Tuesday around 7,000 ballots are left to be processed.

Write-ins will be reflected in the official results when completed, she said.

Sheriff candidate Dennis Hauck remains in second place ahead of Jeff Pierce, but only by 205 votes; on Friday, he led Pierce by 128. Brandon Barnes remains in first, leading Hauck by 1,363 votes.

The District 3 supervisor race reflects the same outcome as Friday: Paul Basi holds the lead with 499 more votes than Mike Ziegenmeyer, who currently holds second with 148 more votes than Bert Manuel.

And the district attorney’s race is still a blowout, with incumbent Amanda Hopper receiving 2,517 more votes than Chris Carlos.

The auditing commission is currently at the Sutter County Elections Office, Johnston said, auditing activity at the polls such as verifying the number of signatures at the polls with the number of voted ballots; verifying the number of unused ballots; and verifying that procedures were followed.

They also do a 100 percent manual recount of all votes cast on the touchscreen voting machines, as well as a 1 percent manual precinct audit of every contest which is chosen at random after election night, she said.

Today (Wednesday) is the last day to “cure” a vote-by-mail signature if it has been challenged or if a voter forgot to sign their ballot. The Elections Office mails out a notice to the voter in that circumstance, Johnston said, and voters can scan the notice or take a photo of it and email to elections@co.sutter.ca.us.