NEVADA COUNTY, Calif. November 6, 2024 – With 15,486 ballots (20.41%) counted on election night, it is too early to declare any of the local races over.
The Elections Office issued a total of 79,045 ballots and as of 8:05 pm on election night 48,593 ballots had been received, according to the Election dashboard. After the polls closed, three reports were issued with vote counts, all are deemed unofficial until the official canvass period is completed.
Voter turnout spiked on election day and substantial lines were observed at nearly all vote centers.
Grass Valley City Council
Out of the 8,524 registered voters, so far only 2,060 ballots (24.17%) have been counted. 2,580 undervotes have been counted at this point – meaning not all voters picked three candidates, some only voted for one or two.
NID District 3
In Nevada County, 9,609 registered voters have the option to cast their vote for one of the two candidates. Of the 1,880 ballots counted, 200 chose not to vote in that contest. 3,020 voters in Placer County expressed their preference so far. The district straddles both counties.
Nevada County Board of Education Area 2
Only 20.90% of votes counted so far. Out of 13,264 ballots counted, 2,801 had no votes for either candidate in the race.
Nevada Joint Union High School District
Two seats are up in this election, in Area 3 only 18.31% of 12,778 ballots have been tabulated. In Area 4, 20.06% of 12,922 ballots have been counted.
Why so few ballots counted?
A printer’s error on vote-by-mail ballots was discovered once the first vote by mail ballots returned. The flaw, not visible to the naked eye, affects an unknown number of ballots. A microscopic overspray prevents voting equipment from reading the ballots. Those will need to be rescanned, which adds more steps to the usual process which includes signature verification, sorting and confirming only one ballot per voter has been cast.
On October 23, the Elections Office issued a press release describing the issue. One week later, Registrar of Voters Natalie Adona stated, “About 90 County staff from other departments are receiving training and assisting us so we can work through the rescanning process as quickly as possible. It may take more time than usual, but I am confident that every legally cast ballot will be counted.”
Adona said she is hopeful all ballots will be counted by Thanksgiving, well ahead of the December 3 deadline for certification. The California Secretary of State has until December 13, 2024, to certify the results of the election.
Next steps
The Elections Office will continue to process ballots and issue updated results likely twice a week until all legally cast ballots are counted.
The latest unofficial result update is available here as a pdf file or on our Nevada County Election Results page.