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Humboldt County board recesses to canvass precinct and absentee returns; totals read aloud
Summary
After routine business the board recessed to serve as the board of canvassers and read precinct-level and absentee tallies across contests including presidential, U.S. House, state legislative, county offices, judicial retention votes and two constitutional amendments; absentee totals and under/over-vote counts were recorded and several write-in reconciliations were resolved.
The board recessed to convene as the board of canvassers to read precinct results and absentee totals across multiple contests. Speaker 3 made the motion to recess and Speaker 5 seconded; members then proceeded precinct by precinct to read vote counts aloud, discuss write-ins and reconcile under- and over-votes.
During the canvass, board members read results for presidential and down-ballot contests. The transcript includes absentee tallies read into the record; for example the absentee presidential totals were reported in the transcript as: "Donald Trump, 1424; Harris, 631; Oliver, 6; De La Cruz, 2; Staden, 1; Kennedy, 9; write-ins 2; undervote 25; overvote 4" (verbatim from the recorded reading).
Board members worked through a large list of precinct and office-level results (U.S. House, state legislative, county auditor and sheriff, hospital trustees, conservation and extension seats, judicial retention and constitutional amendments). They discussed several write-in instances and ties that required checking adjacent pages and absentee tallies; in at least one case the board determined a tie needed a drawing procedure or similar resolution during canvass.
Why it matters: the canvass is the formal process by which the county records and reconciles precinct and absentee returns before certifying local results. The meeting transcript shows the board completed a full read of precinct tallies, recorded under- and over-votes, and reported absentee totals for public record.
What’s next: the board completed the canvass reading during the session; the transcript does not include a formal certification statement in the provided segments but shows the board recording results and reconciling irregularities as part of the canvass procedure.
