The Colusa County Board of Supervisors last week certified the results of the March 5 Presidential Primary Election that will seat Colusa County Superior Court Judge-elect Luke Steidlmayer to the bench on Jan. 6, 2025 and District 4 Supervisor-elect Randy Wilson to the Board of Supervisors, when they are sworn into their first terms in office.
Running unopposed, District 2 Supervisor Daurice Kalfsbeek Smith secured a second term on March 5, and District 3 Supervisor Kent Boes secured his third term.
Colusa County Clerk/Recorder Cristy Edwards, the Colusa County registrar of voters, said the election was conducted without issue, although only 36.78% of registered voters cast a ballot.
For the first time, Colusa County did not utilize voting precincts, with most voters either returning their ballot via the U.S. Postal Service or using the drive-thru dropbox that was installed in the alley beside the Colusa Police Department.
“Everything went extremely smoothly,” Edwards said. “We had two centers where people could return ballots in person, and our new dropbox was heavily used.”
Of the 10, 298 Colusa County residents registered to vote, only 3,788 cast a ballot in the March 5 primary. The turnout was especially low for registered Colusa County Democrats, with just 985 ballots cast (30.26% of the 3,255 registered voters) and for Nonpartisan (No Party Preference), with just 294 votes cast (13.16% of 2,234 registered).
Republican turnout came in at 56.59% with 2,344 ballots cast of 4,142 registered voters, followed by 32.02% of American Independents, with 130 votes from the 406 registered.
Steidlmayer, of Colusa, was raised in Colusa and works as a licensed attorney in his family’s law firm in Colusa. He ran without a challenge and garnered 3,136 votes.
Wilson, a Maxwell native, avoided a November run-off by clinching the win with 420 of 780 votes (56%) in a three-way contest against Cristy Edwards (263) and Susan Meeker (67). Wilson works in the agriculture industry and will replace Gary Edwards, of Stonyford, who will retire at the end of the year after 26 years on the dais.
Colusa County voters advanced Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (2,815) to the November run-off with Democrat Rose Penlope Yee (477).
For the California State Senate District 1 seat, Megan Dahle (2,500) and David Fennell (633), both Republicans, will be vying in the November election for the termed-out seat currently held by Sen. Brian Dahle.
For Assembly, Cecilia M. Aguiar-Curry, a mostly well-liked Democrat in the 4th District ran unopposed.
Colusa County voters also helped secure the statewide run-off in November for U.S. Senator to replace the late Diane Feinstein (D-San Francisco) between Republican Baseball player Steve Garvey (1,946) and Democratic Congressman Adam Shift (532), although ballots were cast across the board for Democrats Katie Porter (181) and Barbara Lee (165), Republicans Erik Early (220) and Sharleta Bassett (133), and 23 other candidates.
In California, the top two vote getters in the primary will advance to the general election run-off in November regardless of party affiliation, resulting in Porter claiming the March 5 election was “rigged,” because Shift supporters spent millions bolstering Garvey, who would be considered a safer bet on the ballot in a deep blue state than a fellow Democratic member of the House.
Although Porter later said she regretted the statement, some people continue to believe that the country’s election system is flawed.
On March 12 and March 27, a group of people appeared before the Board of Supervisors during public comment asking the Board not to certify the March 5 election.
While the group mostly raised unfounded conspiracy claims about fraud and electronic voting systems they believe can be and were hacked in the 2018 and 2020 elections, they also found flaws with the all-mail balloting system, including ballot harvesting, which is legal in California, and other activists such as registering someone to vote and forging their signature, filling out a mail ballot for someone who has died or moved away, and voting while ineligible.
“The only way to get a straight one-to-one true vote count is hand count at every precinct with one-day voting and voter ID,” said Gina Hong, at the March 26 board meeting. “There is no other way.”
While Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation into 2023 that limits the ability of local governments to manually count ballots except in very narrow races, Edwards assured the board and the public the integrity of Colusa County’s election, which she said is an open and transparent process.
“Any part of that process is open to any member of the public to come and see,” Edwards said.
Although 42 of California’s 58 counties use electronic voting systems, Colusa County does not, Edwards said, and no part of the ballot tabulation comes off an electronic machine connected to the internet.
Colusa County voters also cast ballots across the board for presidential candidates of all parties, with Republican Donald Trump (1,960) and Democrat Joe Biden (675) garnering the most support.