Editor's note: This article reflects the results available as of Friday afternoon.
CITYWIDE — Early in the morning following election day, after the election night ballots were counted, the smoke hadn't completely cleared.
A percentage point separated second through fifth place in a race for four Board of Education seats. Third and fourth places in the race for three City Council seats were just under 600 votes apart.
The Los Angeles County Registrar, which was handling Santa Monica's election, still had more than 300,000 provisional and vote-by-mail ballots to count countywide.
More than half of those have been counted, as of Friday, and (with the exception of some insignificant changes) results have stayed the same.
At least 4,000 ballots have been added to the 20,479 counted in Santa Monica on election night.
Board of Education member Ralph Mechur remains the odd man out in the Ed Board race — still about 300 votes behind Board of Education member Oscar de la Torre.
Challengers Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein and Craig Foster have swapped positions. Foster held the second place spot by a couple dozen votes on election night but Tahvildaran-Jesswein now holds it by a couple hundred.
Incumbent Laurie Lieberman won reelection easily, currently holding a more than 2,500-vote lead on Tahvildaran-Jesswein.
Boardmember Ben Allen, who still has two years left on his term, was elected to the State Senate in a landslide victory against reproductive rights advocate Sandra Fluke.
This will open up a new slot on the board, which Mechur told the Daily Press he'd be very interested in filling.
"When a vacancy occurs four or more months before the end of a Board member's term, the Board shall, within 60 days of the date of the vacancy or the filing of the member's deferred resignation, either order an election or make a provisional appointment, unless a special election is mandated," the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District's bylaws state.
Mechur joined the board through an appointment in 2007 after the recently-elected Emily Bloomfield announced she would step down because her family was moving to Washington, D.C.
Mechur was elected in 2010.
He was endorsed by Santa Monicans for Renters' Right (SMRR), the city's largest political party, before this election.
The Daily Press asked SMRR co-Chair Patricia Hoffman if the party's Steering Committee will weigh in on the appointment.
"That will be up to the Steering Committee," she said. "We've got a little time."
The vote order of the council candidates hasn't changed since election night, with top finishers — incumbent Kevin McKeown and challenger Sue Himmelrich — widening their gap on the rest of the field. Mayor Pam O'Connor has held her ground in the third and final slot, with challenger Phil Brock now more than 700 votes behind.
Measure HH appeared on its way to passing after the initial vote count — water under the bridge given that its companion measure, Measure H, had clearly failed. But Measure HH, which centers around affordable housing, is now failing and, while this is legally insignificant, the result will make symbolic waves.
Measure H would have raised the tax imposed on the sale of million dollar homes. Measure HH would have recommended that those tax dollars be set aside for the production off affordable housing.
Since the dissolution of the redevelopment agency in 2012, construction and purchase of new apartments for low-income residents has slowed to a near halt. Before the dissolution, City Hall would spend more than $15 million annually to fund affordable housing. Now the funding sources have nearly run dry.
Santa Monica politics have long included a support for affordable housing. It is one of the primary tenets of Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights, the city's largest political party. Since 1994, more than a third of all housing built in the city has been set aside as affordable housing, according to city officials.
A poll, contracted by City Hall before the election, showed narrow support for a tax increase that would support affordable housing.
With a few ballots left to be tallied, HH is now 35 votes down.
The Los Angeles County Registrar has until Nov. 28 to certify the results of the election. There is then a five-day period during which a recall can be demanded. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to declare election results official on Dec. 2.
dave@www.smdp.com
