45,000 Ballots Left To Count In Marin's March 5 Election

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Staffers at the Marin County Elections Department were working through an estimated 45,000 ballots yet to be tallied Wednesday afternoon in the wake of the March 5 election.

County officials said 30 full-time and part-time workers were steadily making their way through the outstanding ballots and had tabulated more than 37,000 ballots on election night, mainly comprised of ballots received earlier in the voting period.

Ballots mailed later in the process will be reflected in the tallies over the coming days, and votes received late can still count as long as they show a postmark no later than March 5.

"I know people are anxious about the results," said Lynda Roberts, Marin's Registrar of Voters. "The team is doing a great job sorting, verifying signatures, and removing ballots from envelopes, so we can count ballots as quickly as possible. We plan to work this weekend as well."

Early tallies showed Larkspur's Measure D rent control ordinance ahead by just eight votes on election night. A $517 million bond measure for the Tamalpais Union High School District was roughly three points behind the 55 percent mark needed to pass. In District 2, preliminary results suggested the Board of Supervisors race between Brian Colbert and Heather McPhail Sridharan could head for a runoff.

The outcome of each race will come into better focus as thousands of ballots are counted in the coming days. Voters can check for updated results after 5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Bay City News contributed to this report.