Updated Ballot Count Shows Little Change in 5th District Supervisor, Santa Barbara Mayor Races

The latest round of ballot counting released Thursday afternoon left the two most closely watched races on the Central Coast essentially where they stood on election night — with Santa Barbara mayoral candidate Eric Friedman and Fifth District supervisor candidate Ricardo Valencia still ahead, and tens of thousands of county ballots still to be processed.

The update, reported by Noozhawk, came as the Santa Barbara County Elections Office reported 40.2% turnout countywide so far, with 100,523 ballots processed — including 10,981 since the previous update early Wednesday — and 61,745 ballots still uncounted. Among those are roughly 1,000 ballots that need to be "cured" because they were unsigned or carried signatures that did not match the identification envelope.

The Elections Office said its next update will come Tuesday by 3 p.m., meaning Santa Barbara residents will wait nearly a week for the next meaningful snapshot of where the mayor's race and the North County supervisor contest stand.

Friedman Holds the Edge in the Mayor's Race

Council member Eric Friedman continues to lead fellow council member Kristen Sneddon in the race to become Santa Barbara's next mayor, though his margin narrowed slightly.

In Thursday's count, Friedman led by 312 votes, with 10,701 votes (46.3%) to Sneddon's 10,389 (45%). In the semi-official results posted early Wednesday, Friedman's lead stood at 374 votes — 8,537 to 8,058.

Wendy Sims-Moten trailed in third with 5.9% of the vote in Thursday's update, and Matt Kilrain had 2.4%.

Speaking on election night, Friedman told Noozhawk he was "optimistic" but wanted to "make sure that every vote is counted." Sneddon, in a Wednesday social media post, acknowledged the race remained unresolved: "With the Mayor's race not yet determined, I am celebrating the direction Santa Barbara is heading with the council seats." She also thanked her volunteers and supporters, and could not immediately be reached for further comment.

Whoever wins will inherit a city grappling with familiar coastal-city pressures — housing affordability, homelessness, and downtown revitalization — and will work alongside a reshaped City Council that Sneddon's post suggested she views as favorable to her policy priorities. The mayor's race is technically nonpartisan, but the outcome will shape the council's direction on those issues for the next four years.

Valencia Extends Lead in Fifth District

In the race for the open Fifth District seat on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, Valencia widened his narrow lead over Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez's challenger Maribel Aguilera, according to the Elections Office tally.

Thursday's count put Valencia at 3,960 votes (51.6%) to Aguilera's 3,678 (47.9%) — a 282-vote margin. That compares with a 96-vote gap (2,707 to 2,611) in Wednesday morning's semi-official results.

Valencia, speaking Wednesday, said he was grateful to the community and wants to honor every vote. "I'm feeling an immense sense of pride that our campaign ran an ethical campaign where we did not take money from big corporations or special interests," he told Noozhawk.

Aguilera struck a similarly patient tone. "We're patiently waiting for the ballots to be counted," she said, adding that she was grateful to her supporters and to voters.

The winner will succeed Steve Lavagnino, who announced he would not seek reelection and will retire at the end of the year. Lavagnino was first elected to the board in 2010. The Fifth District covers Santa Maria's northern neighborhoods, the city of Guadalupe, and the unincorporated Tanglewood subdivision — communities where decisions about oil and energy development, groundwater management, and North County growth weigh heavily.

The race also carries implications for the board's ideological balance. Lavagnino has generally aligned with the board's more conservative bloc on fiscal and land-use questions, and a Valencia win could strengthen the board's progressive majority on issues ranging from renewable energy to cannabis and housing policy.

Tight Council Races in Buellton and Lompoc

Thursday's update also moved two North County city council races, if only by handfuls of votes.

In Buellton, council candidates Billy Silvola and Mark Williams were separated by just nine votes on election night. Thursday's results put Silvola ahead by 16 votes.

In Lompoc's District 2 council contest, incumbent Victor Vega saw his lead over Sharlameigne Segovia narrow from 49 votes in Wednesday's semi-official results to 31 votes in Thursday's tally.

What Happens Next

For now, Santa Barbara residents — and the campaigns themselves — are in a holding pattern. County election officials must still process more than 61,000 ballots, including late-arriving vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots, and the roughly 1,000 flagged for signature curing. Voters whose ballots need curing typically have a window to verify their signature and salvage their vote, a process that can shift close margins in the final accounting.

With the next update not expected until Tuesday by 3 p.m., candidates in both marquee races are urging patience. The outcomes won't change who governs tomorrow — but they will determine who leads Santa Barbara City Hall and who fills a pivotal seat on the county board for the next four years.

State law requires county elections officials to certify final results in the weeks following election day, so a definitive answer in both races may still be days away.

This article is based on reporting by [Noozhawk](https://www.noozhawk.com/updated-ballot-count-shows-little-change-in-5th-district-supervisor-santa-barbara-mayor-races/) and results posted by the Santa Barbara County Elections Office.