Votes trickled in to Friday’s tally of the WeHo City Council election, leaving John Heilman (3,916 votes) holding on to his third-place finish by a mere 15 votes over Zekiah Wright (3,901 votes). Chelsea Byers (3,956 votes) remained in a distant second place behind Mayor Lauren Meister (6,059 votes).
Very few qualified votes are left to arrive. Since the previous tally, Heilman picked up only one more vote; Wright got four and Byers received three more.
Final results of the election will be certified Monday by Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
The top three vote-getters in the race will each win a four-year term on West Hollywood City Council. Traditionally, all councilmembers will serve one year of that term as WeHo’s mayor.
[…] two year ago, promising to turn back the clock and get the city back on track. He overcame not only two of three progressive opponents and the vote-harvesting labor union supporting them, but two other former councilmembers running to […]
Between last Tuesday’s numbers and Friday, Wright closed the gap from 28 votes to only 15. I would consider this neck-and-neck, it might come down to a 1-5 vote difference. I believe the election results are finalized tomorrow.
If it falls into a 1-5 difference between the two, I wonder if a recount will happen and if the County will be in charge of it vs. the City. I would guess the County, because the City would be looking at ballots that include non-West Hollywood races, and that would be a violation of voters’ privacy.
Three weeks is an awfully long time to count votes, especially in a city the size of WeHo. Seeing as not that many residents bother to vote, tallies should be done and finalized within 24-48 hours. I think I’ll talk to Keith Kaplan about this. He’ll get it straightened out. This wouldn’t happen if KK were Mayor!
See Randy’s comment below. The city no longer does its own count, the County now handles the vote tallies.
The city bears no responsibility for counting the votes. The county ran the election. West Hollywood elections started on the county roster, in 2020. They have millions and millions of votes to go through. Tomorrow is supposed to be the certification day. They are not going to single out ballots that have a West Hollywood vote on it and sort them separately. Who is the mayor in West Hollywood has nothing to do with this. Even if the City counted its own votes, that would be under the responsibility of the city manager, and the city clerk, I believe.
How about Heilman & Wright taking over Byers. That would be interesting.
Why does it take 3 weeks to count votes? Is the voting process is broken? Does anyone think this is normal? Why have other states process their entire vote count in hours?
The county is running the election. And they have to go through millions of votes, which takes three or four weeks. Certification day is tomorrow. See my comment above.
Byers won because of Far Left (progressives who don’t believe in any kind of law) extremists. That term Progressive =Anarchist (it is a simple bait and switch scheme).
Lawlessness, massive homelessness isn’t too concerning for people who vote for the likes of this terrorist lover. Apparently, they don’t know any better. We’ve got big problems headed our way.
Byers won because she ran a good campaign. Everyone needs to take notice and figure out the formula, because this will keep happening. Look at Mejia’s win as an example. This talk of election cheating is a waste of time, and just a big excuse. If you want your candidate to win, make sure they’re running a good campaign.
So Mr Wright isn’t going to win????
Surely, one can count faster than this, I didn’t say Shirley
The County is in charge of counting the votes and will not finalize the election results until Dec 5. They have millions of votes to go through. The City has nothing to do with it. I believe this is only the second election where the City started using the County’s voting system. The first was in 2020.
You can get updates here. I’m not sure how often they update this page:
https://results.lavote.gov/#year=2022&election=4300
Like I didn’t know this. The news and newspaper say it every
Airplane.
Things sure are serious in a world …..
If you knew that, why did you make this comment in the first place? The December 5 certification has been a long known date that the county announced quite awhile back.
A JOKE as another clown Byers takes the place of the last clown
What’s the mentality of the people who voted for her
Let’s be honest. Byers is just using this position as a jumping platform for bigger political ambitions. She only recently moved here to put her big plan into motion. She’s going to try out many of her far-out progressive ideas in a city that’s too small for it. The way she recently spoke out in favor of the Fountain Ave overhaul was an example of what’s to come. She will outshine Sepi.
Look at the bright side. John Trump Duran lost!!
So unsettling to think that we are going to have a council person who supports Hamas, who today killed and injured innocent people, stole a patient from a hospital. Very sad time for Weho that we voted Byers onto council.
Even more unsettling that we have council members that do not appreciate or have the skills for running the municipal government of a small city whose mission it is to understand the micro/macro elements of implementing useful vision and practices for the residents. We have one council member that can examine nuts and bolts but seems oblivious to scope, another on a personal trajectory to higher office, one who although a project manager purported himself to be an architect and tandem personally flawed members pursuing divisive, personal special interests having no real experience in the wider world. A very sad… Read more »
I agree–I’m sickened by the votes for Chelsea Byers. I’d be curious to know how widespread the antisemitic sentiment has gotten in West Hollywood. Are Shyne and Wright also committed to banning Jews from the City Hall?
Relax Francis
Eric – try a different line. This one is too old.
Not gonna happen Joshua!