Chico City Council update

What was a tight race for the fourth and final spot on the Chico City Council has loosened a bit, and it looks like Randall Stone has gained that last open seat. The initial count after the Nov. 6 election had Stone eight votes ahead of fifth-place candidate Andrew Coolidge.

The latest count, which includes the mail-in ballots that arrived on Election Day but were not counted right away, has Stone (pictured) ahead of Coolidge by 268 votes. A clerk’s office employee said there are still about 5,000 provisional ballots left to tally, and it’s unclear how many of those are from Chico precincts. (Provisional ballots have some question as to the actual residency or registration of the voter.)

The count at this point shows Mayor Ann Schwab in the lead with 14,081 votes, followed by Tami Ritter (12,458), Sean Morgan (11,245), Stone (10,996), Coolidge (10,728), incumbent Bob Evans (9,811), Toby Schindelbeck (9.721), Kimberly Rudisill (7,959), Dave Kelley (6,858), Dave Donnan (4,270) and Lisa Duarte (3,220).