Two open Sonoma County Board of Supervisors seats were still being counted Thursday. Unofficial tallies showed Joanna Paun ahead of Sylvia Lemus 61.9% to 38.1% in District 2, and Melanie Bagby ahead of Tom Schwedhelm 53.01% to 46.99% in District 4, KSRO reported.
Earlier Wednesday, just 807 votes separated Bagby and Schwedhelm, The Press Democrat reported. Bagby is a former Cloverdale mayor; Schwedhelm is a former Santa Rosa mayor and retired police chief. They are vying to succeed James Gore in a district that includes Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Windsor and northern Santa Rosa.
"It's really important that every vote is counted," Bagby said at her watch party, according to The Press Democrat. Schwedhelm called it another case of "hurry up and wait." The paper said the two open races could shift the largely centrist majority on the five-member board.
NorCal Public Media reported that in early returns Kevin McDonnell led the Petaluma mayor's race with 57.5%, and Windsor Mayor Tanya Potter had nearly 78%. The registrar is still processing remaining mail and provisional ballots.Vote counts cited here are unofficial. Bay Area counties are still processing mail and provisional ballots, and results are not certified until later this month, so margins can change.