Ballots not all counted yet; Two City Council Incumbents may not be returning

It's been eight days and there is still no official count from last Tuesday's election. With 100% of the precincts counted by 1 a.m. November 5, El Dorado County election employees have been counting the absentee and provisional ballots since then. They released their third report of the count today, showing little change from Friday's numbers.

Michelle Sweeney leads Bob Grant by 32 votes in the Lake Tahoe Community College Trustee Area 5 race. Measure F has a 57% "yes vote of the needed 55%. Measure H is losing with 65.98% of the vote going against it's passing. Duane Wallace leads Andy Chapman with 64.94% of the vote and Jim Jones has the edge over challenger Shane Romsos 58.11% to 41.43%. Sue Novasel continues to lead Kenny Curtzwiler in the El Dorado County Supervisor Area 5 race with 60.09% of the vote.

In the South Lake Tahoe City Council race, the top three become councilmembers:

WENDY LOU DAVID 1676 18.37%
TOM DAVIS 1409 15.44%
AUSTIN C. SASS 1284 14.07%
ANGELA SWANSON 1248 13.68%
BROOKE LAINE 1211 13.27%
MATT PALACIO 1175 12.88%
BRUCE P. GREGO 1096 12.01%

The process of counting absentee ballots is a lengthy one as officials must verify every signature on each ballot to the signatures on file. They also need to cross check the names on ballots turned in at the polling places with those mailed in to ensure there is no duplication.