McBain Wins Council Seat in Very Close Race

Bob McBain defeated Tim Rood for a seat on the Piedmont City Council, final election results released at 4 p.m. Wednesday show.

In the final count, only 26 votes separated the two candidates for the contested council seat. Incumbent Margaret Fujioka was re-elected with the highest number of votes in the council race.

The final figures show Fujioka with 2,709 votes (39.48 percent), McBain with 2,089 votes (30.45 percent) and Rood with 2,063 votes (30.07 percent).

Final returns did not change the outcome of the school board contest, where Sarah Pearson, Andrea Swenson and Rich Raushenbush were elected, or of Measure A, the sewer tax surcharge, which was defeated.

Slightly over half (51.01 percent) of Piedmont's registered voters cast ballots in the Feb. 7 election.

Wednesday afternoon's figures include about 400 vote-by-mail ballots that were not reflected in Tuesday night returns. They include vote-by-mail ballots that were either turned in at polling places on Tuesday or collected from the Post Office Tuesday evening by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office.

The final numbers also include provisional ballots that the Registrar's Office determined were valid. Those are most often ballots cast by voters who went to the wrong polling place, Registrar Dave Macdonald said. Those ballots are placed in sealed envelopes with the voter's name and address outside. If the Registrar's Office determines the voter is properly registered, the ballot is valid. Wednesday's returns include about 100 provisional ballots, Macdonald said.

See the final figures for all candidates and for Measure A in the updated "Piedmont Municipal Election Results."