Three days after the June 7 primary election, Santa Barbara County’s election office reported Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders edged past Hillary Clinton by 108 votes. As vote-by-mail ballots were counted, Sanders’s lead grew Tuesday to 1,349 votes, with 7,000 provisional ballots left to count. As of press time, Sanders had won 23 counties in California.
“They are being counted as we speak,” said Sanders campaign field organizer Kyle Butts. “You can’t stay up all night to count five million votes. You need a couple days.”
Sanders supporter Daraka Larimore-Hall, chair of the county’s Democratic Party, was among those to introduce the Vermont senator to more than 6,000 jubilant supporters rallied on the lawn at Santa Barbara City College on May 28. Though many Dem party leaders and most area elected officials supported Clinton — and joined her event at Jill’s Place on June 4 — Larimore-Hall said Central Committee members slightly favored Sanders. “We’re adults,” he said. “We can disagree.”