LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office on Thursday issued an update on the number of ballots still to be counted during the monthlong official canvass.

Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said the voting results issued earlier this week are preliminary, and the election results won't be certified and final until the remaining absentee and provisional ballots have been processed.

Regarding the number of ballots still to be counted, Fridley gave a preliminary total of 9,652 vote-by-mail ballots received by election day; 1,497 provisional ballots; and 719 vote-by-mail ballots that require further review for various reasons.

Provisional ballots may be entirely counted, partially counted or not counted. Fridley said that after the election has been certified, provisional voters may contact her office to find out if their vote was counted and if not, why it was not counted.

She said the breakdown of ballots remaining to be counted by the local jurisdictions will be reported as soon as staff can separate the ballots remaining to be counted by the 70 precincts, which includes 50 poll precincts and 20 mail ballot precincts.

Fridley's office could still receive more ballots by mail. She said that due to a change in California's election code that went into effect Jan. 1, the  deadline for elections officials to receive vote by mail
ballots returned by mail was changed.

That law requires that vote-by-mail ballots that are postmarked by the Postal Service on or before Election Day will be considered timely cast if they're received by the elections official no later than three days after election day, according to Fridley.

However, because the third day after the election is Friday – Veterans Day, which also is a state holiday – absentee ballots postmarked by Nov. 8 and received by Monday, Nov. 14, shall be considered received on time and may be counted, Fridley said.

Fridley said she must complete the ballot count within 28 days, or by Dec. 6.

Statewide, the California Secretary of State's Office said Thursday that 4,362,087 ballots remain to be counted.

That breaks down to 3,175,721 vote-by-mail ballots; 1,071,005 provisionals; and 115,361 “other” ballots, which includes ballots that are damaged and could not be machine read and need to be remade, and ballots diverted by optical scanners for further review, the state said.

Fridley said that for this election her office issued and received more absentees than ever before.

Based on the latest ballot counts, overall absentee voting in this election is estimated at 16,958 ballots, or 66 percent.

Comparisons with recent elections show how the absentee numbers have grown. Absentee ballots totaled 13,774 in November 2008 and 13,470 in November 2012, the last two presidential elections.

A preliminary calculation of the absentee and precinct ballots counted by election night plus the numbers Fridley issued Thursday of ballots still to be counted totals 25,352.

With 34,707 registered voters, an initial estimate of voter turnout is 73 percent, matching the turnout for the November 2008 presidential election.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

A grant-funded effort by the California Highway Patrol and the California Office of Traffic Safety will focus on reducing fatal collisions involving pedestrians and bicyclists.

The California Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Enforcement and Education Project IV will run from Oct. 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2017.

In California, pedestrians account for nearly 25 percent of all roadway deaths annually, and bicyclists on average account for 4 percent.

In an effort to reduce these deaths, the CHP will deploy officers to enhance enforcement operations in locations identified as having a high number of pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities.

Education and enforcement efforts will focus on drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians, the agency said.

“Bicyclists and pedestrians are some of the most vulnerable users of roadways,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “This grant will promote the importance of alternate modes of transportation by stressing how Californians can safely share the road.”

Activities to teach traffic safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists on roadways adjacent to schools will focus on the school zones where young pedestrians and bicyclists congregate.

Additionally, officers will provide basic traffic safety education at bicycle and pedestrian skills clinics.

These events are conducted with the assistance of local traffic safety partners and community groups.

The grant allows the CHP to provide bicycle helmets for children and safety publications for all roadway users at no cost.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. has issued a proclamation declaring Friday, Nov. 11, 2016, as Veterans Day in the State of California.

The text of the proclamation is below:

PROCLAMATION

Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, a holiday commemorating the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. All too soon, it became clear that this had not been the "War to End All Wars" as some optimists claimed. After a second global conflict that dwarfed the first in its magnitude of destruction, countries around the world began changing their observance to encompass all conflicts and honor those who served. Our own Veterans Day was established as a national holiday by congressional resolution and presidential proclamation in 1954.

Today, nearly 2 million veterans live in California. Among them are men and women who served in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War and our recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as various smaller engagements and peacetime deployments. As we remember these brave Americans today, we should consider not only their valor and suffering in the service of our country, but also the challenges they face upon returning home. Our veterans suffer from high rates of disability, poverty, unemployment and homelessness. We cannot glibly claim to honor our heroes while leaving them to suffer from social and economic ills.

This Veterans Day, let us welcome all returning veterans with open arms and, as President Eisenhower wrote in his 1954 proclamation, "Let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts will not have been in vain."

NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim November 11, 2016, as "Veterans Day."

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 7th day of November 2016.



___________________________________
EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Governor of California


ATTEST:



__________________________________
ALEX PADILLA
Secretary of State

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris on Thursday issued an information bulletin to law enforcement agencies across California, outlining state laws that prohibit hate crimes and other hate-related acts.

Local California law enforcement agencies have reported an uptick in threats of hate crimes and other violent extremism.

As a result, the bulletin encourages state and local law enforcement agencies to remain vigilant and respond appropriately to suspected or actual hate crime activity.

The bulletin summarizes and reminds local law enforcement agencies about the multiple California criminal laws that prohibit hate crimes and/or provide enhanced penalties for specified hate-related acts.

The information bulletin provides recent statistics compiled by the Attorney General’s Office in the 2015 Hate Crime in California Report.

While the total number of hate crime events has decreased 35.9 percent from 1,306 in 2006 to 837 in 2015, hate crimes and hate-related activity remain a significant problem.

Hate crime events increased 10.4 percent from 758 in 2014 to 837 in 2015; the vast majority of this increase is attributed to an uptick in events involving religious bias. Such events are particularly damaging to our residents and communities when they involve threats of violence.

“We must protect all Californians from acts of hate and bigotry and when an individual is victimized because of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation, we must act swiftly to ensure justice and accountability,” said Harris. “Hate crimes are serious crimes that may result in imprisonment or jail time for offenders. This bulletin gives local law enforcement agencies the tools to both support victims of crime and investigate and prosecute those who perpetrate these despicable crimes.”

Last month, Attorney General Harris charged a Southern California man, Mark Feigin, with one felony count of criminal threats with a special hate crime allegation for posting anti-Muslim rhetoric and threats to the Facebook page of the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles and calling the center to make death threats. If convicted, the defendant faces up to six years in prison.

Over the past 10 years, the most common type of hate crime has been related to race, ethnicity, and national origin bias. This type of bias accounted for more than half (51.1 percent) of all hate crime events reported last year.

Within this category, hate crimes with an anti-black bias motivation continue to be the most common hate crime, accounting for 31.9 percent of all hate crime events since 2006.

The second most common type of hate crime over the past 10 years is hate crimes with a sexual orientation bias. The sexual orientation bias type accounted for 22.5 percent of hate crimes reported in 2015.

Within this category, hate crimes with an anti-gay and anti-homosexual motivation have consistently been the most common bias sub-types. Together, they account for 87.2 percent of all sexual orientation bias hate crimes since 2006.

Attorney General Harris has made the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes a top priority and has convened community members and law enforcement to discuss ways to counter Islamophobia and religiously-motivated hate crimes.

Following attacks on reproductive health clinics, she also convened local, state and federal law enforcement leaders and Planned Parenthood clinic directors to discuss the recent uptick in threats and violence and ways to increase coordination to better protect patients and health care workers.

The bulletin is posted below.

111016 California Attorney General's Office hate crime bulletin by LakeCoNews on Scribd

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A well-known Lake County Realtor has died after being attacked with a knife by her grandson at her daughter's Bay Area home.

Joan Lila Lininger, 85, of Lakeport, was mortally wounded in the Wednesday night incident and her 35-year-old grandson, Tyler Benjamin Haskell, later taken into custody, according to Livermore Police Department spokesman Officer Ryan Sanchez.

The Livermore Police Department reported that shortly after 7:30 p.m. Wednesday officers responded to the 5300 block of Hillflower Drive for a report of an assault with a deadly weapon.

Sanchez said the assault occurred at the home of Lininger's daughter, 62-year-old Karla Haskell.

When officers arrived at Karla Haskell's home, they found both her and her mother with stab wounds. Before their arrival, Tyler Haskell had fled the scene, police said.

Based on the preliminary investigation, police said Tyler Haskell stabbed his mother and grandmother with a kitchen knife. Lininger died but Karla Haskell had non-life threatening injuries.

Following a search of the area, police officers found Tyler Haskell approximately one mile away from his mother's home in the 1300 block of North Vasco Road and arrested him without incident shortly after 8 p.m., officials reported.

As for why Tyler Haskell attacked his mother and grandmother, Sanchez said the motive is unknown. However, police said Tyler Haskell suffers from various mental illnesses.

Haskell was arrested for first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and booked into the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on Thursday morning. He is being held without bail, according to jail records.

Sanchez said Haskell has not yet been formally charged.

Due to the Veterans Day holiday, “He more than likely will not be charged until Monday,” Sanchez said.

Jail booking records showed that Haskell is due to be arraigned in court on Monday afternoon.

Lininger worked as a Realtor in Lake County for nearly 25 and had recently retired, according to Scott Knickmeyer, the association executive of the Lake County Association of Realtors.

“She was with City Center Realty and was well respected and well liked throughout the Lake County real estate community,” said Knickmeyer.

He added, “We are all shocked and saddened by this news. She will be greatly missed.”

Lininger was born in San Francisco and had lived in Lake County since 1970, according to her profile on the City Center Web site.

Before becoming a Realtor, Lininger had owned and operated Scotts Valley Nursery for 18 years with her husband, Bob. She received her real estate license in 1992 and she and her husband sold the nursery business in 1994.

Bob Lininger died on Oct. 3.

Joan Lininger is survived by four daughters, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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