Politics & Government

Counting of Provisional, Vote-by-Mail Ballots to Begin Friday Afternoon

The 493 ballots will likely decide whether former Mayor Nancy Krasne or Planning Commissioner Brian Rosenstein gets to sit on the City Council.

With Mayor Willie Brien and Vice-Mayor John Mirisch likely to get re-elected to second terms on the Beverly Hills City Council, the suspense over who will win the third and only open seat on the council will come closer to being resolved Friday afternoon when 493 potential vote-by-mail ballots and provisional ballots are counted.

The City Clerk’s office will begin counting the ballots at 1:30 p.m. in the chambers of City Hall, Beverly Hills Public Information Manager Therese Kosterman said, adding that it's not clear how long it will take to count the ballots or just when the ballot count will be announced.

According to the latest election results, announced Tuesday night, former Mayor Nancy Krasne has a 20-vote lead over Planning Commissioner Brian Rosenstein for the third seat. Krasne won 2,311 votes, while Rosenstein won 2,291.

Find out what's happening in Beverly Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A total of 4,402 votes were counted Tuesday night, giving Mirisch and Brien clear leads over their four challengers. While Mirisch won 2,575 votes, Brien claimed 2,373. If Mirisch is reelected, he will become the city's mayor March 27, under its rotation system.

Excluded from Tuesday’s count, however, were 286 potential vote-by-mail ballots and 207 verified provisional ballots that voters dropped off at polling booths, Kosterman told Beverly Hills Patch.

Find out what's happening in Beverly Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Provisional ballots are usually cast by voters whose names are either missing from the voting roster or when voters who have requested absentee ballots want to vote at the polls but don’t have unmarked absentee ballots to turn in, Beverly Hills City Clerk Byron Pope told City News Service.

The City Clerk has 28 days to certify the election results, Kosterman said.

Here are the latest vote counts from the election results:

John Mirisch 2575 William Brien

2373

Nancy Krasne 2311 Brian Rosenstein 2291 Katherine Cohan 454 Michael Talei

299


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