The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder has completed and certified the vote count from the Nov. 3 election.
A total of 4,338,191 ballots were processed and counted in Los Angeles County, with 75.98% of eligible voters in the county casting ballots in this election.
For the West Hollywood City Council election, the final results remain unchanged. Sepi Shyne and John Erickson are still the winners, although they have recorded a few more votes since the last time WEHOville updated the election results.
Below are the final numbers:
- Sepi Shyne — 8,093 (23.55%)
- John Erickson — 7,349 (21.38%)
- John Heilman — 6,233 (18.14%)
- Larry Block — 3,487 (10.15%)
- John Duran — 3,365 (9.79%)
- Noemi Torres — 1,662 (4.84%)
- Marc Yusupov — 1,452 (4.22%)
- Marco Colantonio — 991 (2.88%)
- Jerome Cleary — 617 (1.80%)
- Tom Demille — 588 (1.71%)
- Christopher McDonald — 530 (1.54%)
The four-week delay between the election occurring and the registrar certifying the results was to allow time for processing provisional ballots and vote-by-mail ballots. That processing included verifying the registration and the signature on each ballot.
This year with the coronavirus pandemic raging, the state sent mail-in ballots to every registered voter in the state. In elections past, a voter had to request an absentee/vote-by-mail ballot.
As a result of ballots being mailed to every voter, more people used this option this option than ever before. Vote-by-mail ballots which were postmarked by Nov. 3 had until Nov. 20 to arrive to be counted.
Although the vote-by-mail ballots didn’t make a difference in the results of the West Hollywood election this time, they could in a tight election.
For example, on election night, when the vote count was first released on the Registrar’s website (lavote.net), Shyne was the still the top vote getter, but she was winning with 6,738 votes. Her final vote count is 8,093. That’s 1,355 votes that came in for her after election night.
In second place, Erickson’s vote count on election night was 6,228. His final vote count is 7,349. That’s 1,121 more votes that came in for him.
In third place, Heilman’s vote count on election night was 5,333. His final vote count is 6,233. That’s a 900 vote difference.
The West Hollywood City Council will certify these election results at the start of its meeting on Monday. After that, the two new councilmembers – Shyne and Erickson – will take the oath of office.
This transfer of power will all be done virtually on the Zoom platform this year thanks to pandemic social distancing requirements and the ban on large gatherings. In years past, the swearing in of new councilmembers has been big celebration in the city, attracting a large crowd at the Council Chamber.
The Council meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Monday. The City Council meeting can be viewed live on the WeHo TV portion of the city website (www.weho.org). Additionally, it will be broadcast on Spectrum Cable Television’s Channel 10 within West Hollywood’s borders. The meeting will also stream live on YouTube, Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV and Roku by searching for “WeHo TV.”
Looking forward to Sepi but Erickson is a misogynistic, no-nothing windbag who used and stepped on many to get elected and will be a puppet for mayor Horvath as she prepares to run for the Assembly.
we’re always stuck with such silly people.
Pot meet kettle.
Touché!
Oh turkey. Why are you so angry?! I’m starting to think you’re under rent control in weho and you can’t afford to move to your beloved BH?!
What this shows is that, while an improvement from years past, it still takes far less than 50% to “win” a seat on the West Hollywood city council. We need to END the at-large system and create five unique council districts. I do not feel represented in the current “democracy” that is the West Hollywood Student Council. South Pasadena has a population of roughly 10,000 fewer residents and it has districts. Grow up, WeHo!
I agree… the unwritten story here is that both the Union-funded candidates won. This move to the November election cycle empowered the ‘establishment’ democratic clubs and union endorsed candidates. The only way out is these type of district elections. Almost ten years ago I knocked on a neighbors door to ask him to write the language for term limits. Im tempted to move fund a campaign to move us to district elections to enhance a true progressive city council that is not controlled by the special interests.
Just maybe you’ll have a chance of winning then lol
OR . . . ranked voting system, where we pick our top 3 or 4 and as the lowest drop out, our votes go to the remainders in our order of preference. Works VERY well in other places.
Interesting point. They have twice the land mass.
How would you like to create the 7000+-person districts?
Draw lines.
A rather stunning repudiation of the incumbents and an obvious call for fresh ideas and perspectives at City Hall. Clearly City Hall has gotten stagnant and more than a little ego driven. We now have fresh faces who can take the City in new directions while maintaining our unique set of West Hollywood values. Both Sepi Shyne and Jon Erickson are intelligent with established progressive credentials. I am hoping they can generate a renewed sense of purpose and excitement within the City and at City Hall. I wish them both the best.