[Updated: Wed., Mar. 13, 2024, 5:30pm]
With 2,000 ballots yet to be processed and roughly 100 left to count in the race for Santa Barbara County's 1st District supervisor, an election tally on Wednesday morning showed challenger Roy Lee holding his slim but now insurmountable lead over incumbent Das Williams by 544 votes. According to Joe Holland, the county elections czar, provisional ballots, mismatching signatures on ballots, overseas ballots, and other complications make up the 2,000 yet to be counted countywide. Of that number, fewer than 100 are in the 1st District, said Holland, who assured all the ballots would be tallied before the April 4 deadline.
Both campaigns ran a strong ground game, knocking on doors, sending mailers, making phone calls, and spending on TV and social media ads. But Lee, a city councilmember for Carpinteria, sent mailers to every household in the 1st, regardless of party. Countywide, Republicans turned out 10 percent more votes than Democrats.