We may not find out who our next sheriff is today after all. Fresno County Clerk Victor Salazar said there were a lot more absentee and provisional ballots to count than he first thought, and he may not be done until next week. At 4 p.m., we will see the results of the 17,000 ballots that were counted since last week.
If Assistant Sheriff Margaret Mims' lead grows substantially, there may be enough votes counted to call the race for her. But if Cal Minor, the retired California Highway Patrol captain, cuts into Mims' 740-lead, the winner will still be up in the air until next week. It's all about the math. Stay tuned.
The new sheriff will succeed Sheriff Richard Pierce in January
Well, Mims' lead has grown to 1,003 over Cal Minor.
Minor and his campaign manager are both hiding from the media. Mims was very happy with the news -- and indicated that once she sees the numbers, she might declare victory.
Right now, there are 3,000 ballots left to count.
Well, it's 4:30 and still no results. I guess they like to keep the suspense building.
Obviously what is happening here is that we haven't adjusted mentally to the huge number of absentee ballots in Fresno: over 50%. We have to think differently both in terms of counting and in terms of campaigning. It is a new ballgame! And probably a good one, with more people having a chance to vote.
Not sure where this information is coming from but from the NBC Newscast (we got it about 10 minutes prior via the Election's Office) on KSEE 24 News at 4pm they had the updates.
Along with that was an interview with Election Department Head Victor Salazar that said there were 5000-6000 Provisional ballots still to work through and be counted.
So tune in to the same bat time and same bat channel (KSEE 24 4pm) on November 22nd to see the FINAL (no really) count. We need to put this one to bed and move on!