Politics & Government

Marin Elections Officials Making Sure Every Vote Counts

Elections officials are counting the estimated 20,000 outstanding mail-in and provisional ballots that will determine the outcome of close council races in San Rafael and Larkspur.

Many among the thousands of San Rafael and Larkspur residents who cast their ballots in Tuesday’s elections would probably like to know who actually won.

At the nondescript first floor office of the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, about nine Elections Department employees are going through the painstaking process of counting the approximately 20,000 outstanding ballots countywide with narrow council races in San Rafael and Larkspur hanging in the balance.

Signatures must be checked, addresses must be confirmed, and every ballot has to be accounted for.

Find out what's happening in San Rafaelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Elections officials have until Dec. 3 to certify the election. But for them, expedience can’t be the top priority. Their concern is getting it right.

“It’s extremely important that all of these ballots get counted,” Marin County Registrar of Voters Elaine Grinnold told Patch.

Find out what's happening in San Rafaelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“The elections really affect people’s lives in a very profound way, what people are voting on is people who are voting on are people who are going to make policy decisions on their schools, their cities and their districts.”

And so with the outcomes of some of the county’s closest elections not expected to be known until late next week at the soonest, all anybody can do is wait.

In San Rafael, Maribeth Bushey Lang leads Greg Brockbank by just 231 votes in the race for the second open council seat based on an initial tally.

The Larkspur race is even closer, with Kevin Haroff holding a razor-thin 21-vote lead over Daniel Kunstler.

It wasn’t always this hard for elections officials though.

As recently as 2004, just about 20 percent of ballots cast in Marin County were mail-ins. That number has ballooned to more than 70 percent since a new allowing mail-in votes for reasons other than accessibility or planned absences went into affect.

“You can see the growth,” Grinnold said. “It’s like having two elections.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here