Redondo Beach posts preliminary March 4 election counts; ranked‑choice rounds set for March 13

The City Clerk announced preliminary first‑choice vote counts and ballot totals for Redondo Beach’s March 4 municipal election and said ranked‑choice redistribution rounds will be applied on March 13 after staff verify outstanding ballots.

City Clerk said the office had counted and signature‑verified the ballots received so far and that, for the ranked‑choice contests, only first‑choice rankings would be tabulated tonight. “For ranked‑choice voting ... it will be the first ranking,” the City Clerk said.

The clerk read first‑choice counts for the mayor’s race and other offices as preliminary figures. For mayor she reported: Niels Nirenheim, 1,190; James Light, 1,816; Joan Irvine, 459; Jeff Ginsburg, 358; Georgia Gantner, 339. Reported first‑choice totals for other contests included City Council District 1: Darren King, 68; Ralph Curtis Strasenberg, 475; Brad Waller, 441. District 2: Tad Castle, 618; Louis Burke, 202. District 4: Zaino Boggi Jr., 502; Terry E. Hunt, 188. City attorney first ranking: Joy Ford, 3,107; Steve Collin, 945. Board of Education (vote for three): Hon Archer, 2,058; Rachel Silverman Nesmith, 2,477; Dan Elder, 2,615.

The clerk also read preliminary tabulations for six charter and office‑qualification measures. The city’s precinct totals shown tonight included: - Measure CCD (city clerk duties): Yes 3,475; No 545 (preliminary) - Measure CCQ (city clerk qualifications): Yes 3,508; No 578 (preliminary) - Measure CTD (city treasurer duties): Yes 3,488; No 547 (preliminary) - Measure CTQ (city treasurer qualifications): Yes 3,630; No 461 (preliminary) - Measure CAP (charter amendment on publishing): Yes 3,195; No 656 (preliminary) - Measure CAR (charter amendment on residency): Yes 3,752; No 342 (preliminary)

The clerk said the office had counted “under 4,500 ballots” earlier in the evening and later provided a precinct breakdown and a larger total of ballots that will be processed for signature verification. The clerk reported that 5,866 ballots remained to be verified beginning the next day and that ballots postmarked by Election Day will be accepted and included if received within the county’s seven‑day processing window.

The office described the night’s procedure: verify signatures and eligibility for returned ballots, perform tabulation of first‑choice rankings tonight, then complete signature verification and include late‑arriving valid ballots before applying ranked‑choice redistribution rounds on March 13. The clerk said the city will post results at redondo.org under the elections section and display counts on a screen in Council Chambers.

The clerk thanked staff and county personnel who assisted with the count. The announcement tonight was presented as preliminary; the clerk cautioned that final, redistributed ranked‑choice results depend on completion of signature verification and the inclusion of all valid ballots before the March 13 rounds.