Fennell, Bushnell runoff continues to appear likely

Another 3,200 ballots added to county tally

The county’s elections office released a third update from the March 3 primary election on Friday.

In the most recent update, 43,152 registered voters of a total 79,262 registered voters in the county were counted, which adds around 3,200 to the previous count.

Last week, the elections office had around 6,000 ballots left to count, Registrar of Voters Kelly Sanders told the Times-Standard.

Sanders has provided updates on consecutive Fridays since the election on March 3 and could have something close to a final tally by next Friday if the trend continues.

A call to Sanders was not returned by the publishing deadline.

Humboldt County 1st District

Incumbent 1st District Supervisor Rex Bohn is holding onto his lead with 62.8% of the vote. His challenger, Cliff Berkowitz, who conceded the day after the election, has 37.2%.

Humboldt County 2nd District

The likelihood of 2nd District Supervisor going to a runoff in November against challenger Michelle Bushnell crept closer to certainty.

Fennell needs 50% plus one vote to avoid a runoff in November. Fennell currently holds on to 48.23% of the vote with Bushnell taking 30.86.

Three other challengers — Michael McKaskle, Sean DeVries and Rick French splitting the remaining votes.

Measure R

The Arcata Fire District tax still has not garnered enough support to hit the necessary two-thirds approval rating, coming in at 61.87% approval. The measure would allow for the district to keep three stations open and retain its current staffing levels.

Measure R, if it had passed, would have secured an additional $2.2 million in revenue for the district, which reports yearly, growing deficits in the hundreds of thousands. The proposed tax would spike fire obligations for local residences. A single-family home would pay an additional $98 each year — about a 91% jump.

Measure T

The $18 million bond to fund repairs for Albee Stadium is staying slightly above the 55% threshold needed for passage, coming in with 55.84%.

Measure T would levy about $17 per $100,000 of assessed value on properties within the school district.