Adena Ishii now in first place for Berkeley mayor
The next results aren't expected until Wednesday.
Adena Ishii is now in first place for Berkeley mayor and Sophie Hahn is in second, according to the latest Berkeley election results, which came out Friday.
No one knows for sure how many Berkeley ballots remain but about 56,000 Berkeley votes had been counted as of Friday afternoon.
According to the raw total, Ishii had 19,268 votes (38%) to Hahn's 18,827 (37%), triggering a ranked-choice run-off since neither candidate secured more than 50%.
The subsequent ranked-choice calculation left Ishii with 24,265 votes (51%) and Hahn with 23,120 votes (49%).
If the standings hold, it would be a major upset for Hahn, who has held office in Berkeley since 2016 as the City Council member for District 5.
Ishii has never held public office but presented herself as a coalition-builder who will bring "people together around common sense solutions" and offer an alternative to the "drama" at City Hall.
"It's really exciting to take the lead," Ishii said Friday afternoon.
With such a slim margin, she said, it's still an open contest.
"It just depends on how many people have voted," she said.
Sophie Hahn was not immediately available for comment.
As of this week, the registrar of voters had not released any estimated totals for expected Berkeley ballots.
In 2020, about 60,000 people voted for Berkeley mayor.
Alameda County elections: Next results set for Wednesday
On Friday evening, Tim Dupuis, Alameda County registrar of voters, said about 17,000 votes remain to be counted countywide.
Another 5,000 ballots still need to be cured due to signature issues, he said.
The ROV has been actively reaching out to those voters by email, phone and snail mail depending on what contact information is available.
You can check your ballot status online via ballottrax or on the Alameda County registrar of voters website. On the county site, log in and click the Election tab to find your ballot status.
The next round of results won't come out until Wednesday, Dupuis said.
He said Alameda County may be slower with election results than other places due largely to the available resources.
"If the community wants it to be faster, we would need a larger facility," he said. "We would need more people and we would need more equipment."
Dupuis said he still plans to certify the election results on Dec. 5, in time for the state deadline.
This story was updated after publication due to the developing nature of events. Stay tuned for continuing coverage.