The race for Solvang’s City Council has come down to just one vote, according to the latest update Wednesday by the county elections office. Four candidates vied for the two seats. At the current count, Ryan Toussaint leads the pack with 1,269 votes; Hans Duus, who is the incumbent, has 1,229; Karen Waite is just one vote behind with 1,228; and Brian Baca has 440.
But there are still 11,000 provisional ballots left in Santa Barbara County to be counted, according to county elections head Joe Holland. The lion’s share was cast by people who misplaced their absentee ballot and voted in person at a polling location, Holland said. Other voters showed up to the wrong polling place, which is common in Isla Vista, where college students often move around different apartments. “The main thing is we want to make sure nobody has voted twice,” Holland said. According to Democratic political operative Darcel Elliott, there were about 2,100 provisional ballots cast in the 11 precincts covering Isla Vista and the UCSB campus.
Holland explained that Santa Barbara’s 11,000 figure “looks pretty good” compared to Los Angeles County’s 500,000 or Ventura’s 72,000. His office expects to release final figures December 6.