What's up for November? Cool autumn evenings are a great time to look for the Pleiades star cluster. You'll also have a couple of great opportunities to observe the Moon with Jupiter and Saturn. Plus, check out the phenomenon known as Earthshine.
Evenings in November are a good time to start looking for the Pleiades. This bright cluster of stars is a well-known sight to most stargazers, and is best enjoyed in the cooler fall and winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Pleiades is what's known as an open star cluster – it's a loosely bound grouping of a couple thousand stars that formed together and are slowly drifting apart over time. A handful of the brightest stars in the cluster are visible with the unaided eye, and with binoculars or a telescope, you can see hundreds.
Astronomers estimate the age of the cluster is only about 100 million years. It's located a bit more than 400 light years away. The brightest stars in the Pleiades are many times brighter than our own star, the Sun. In fact, if you were to visit the Pleiades and look homeward, you wouldn't even be able to see the Sun without a small telescope.
On cool November evenings, look for the Pleiades in the east in the couple of hours after dark. The cluster rises to its highest point around midnight.
On Nov. 18 and 19, enjoy a lovely crescent moon near Jupiter and Saturn after sunset. The two planets have been brilliant highlights of the night sky for much of this year, and are now getting closer together in advance of their super close pairing in mid-December. More about that next month, but for now, be sure to watch as they draw a little nearer to each other each week.
You may have marveled at how brightly a full moon can light up a nighttime landscape, but have you noticed how Earth can illuminate the night side of the Moon? This eerily beautiful glow is called Earthshine. It's sunlight that's been reflected off of Earth, then bounced off the Moon and back to our eyes.
Earthshine is easiest to observe in the few days before and after the new moon, when the part of the Moon that's directly lit by the Sun appears as a slim crescent. This is partly because there's less of the bright, sunlit surface to compete with the dimmer Earthshine-lit portion, and partly because the phases of Earth and the Moon are complimentary: when the Moon is a slim crescent in our sky, Earth seen from the Moon looks nearly full.
Occasionally, NASA spacecraft use this phenomenon to make the night side of other planets and moons visible – for example Saturnshine on Saturn's moons and ringshine lighting up Saturn itself, as seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
The best times to observe Earthshine in November are on the 17th through the 20th, following sunset, and before dawn on the 9th through the 12th.
And for an added treat, on the 12th, the Moon, illuminated by both sunshine and Earthshine, will appear just above the "Morning Star," Venus.
You can catch up on all of NASA's missions to explore the solar system and beyond at www.nasa.gov.
Preston Dyches is with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Lauren Hughes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Roberto Silva, University of Colorado Denver
As COVID-19 spreads through rural America, new infection numbers are rising to peaks not seen during this pandemic and pushing hospitals to their limits. Many towns are experiencing their first major outbreaks, but that doesn’t mean rural communities had previously been spared the devastating impacts of the pandemic.
Even if they had no cases, many rural areas were under statewide public health orders that left businesses closed and events canceled. And that has become part of the problem today. The early compassionate and cohesive community responses to COVID-19 quickly gave way to growing anger and compliance fatigue, especially when some isolated towns didn’t see their first positive cases until summer.
That resentment toward public health recommendations, including mask-wearing, is now on a crash course with rising case numbers in the Mountain West, Midwest and Great Plains. For the fifth week in a row, rural counties witnessed a sharp increase in cases, to the point where over 70% of the nation’s nonmetropolitan counties had earned a “red zone” designation, suggesting local viral spread was out of control. The reality, though, is COVID-19 has never been “under control” in the U.S.
As professors of family medicine with experience in rural health policy and medical practice, we have been studying the barriers rural communities are facing during the pandemic and how they can solve COVID-19-related challenges.
Understanding the drivers of increasing COVID-19 cases in rural places is critical to both curtailing the current surge and limiting flareups in the future.
Why rural cases are on the rise
Several factors have contributed to the rise in rural case numbers.
The politicization of the pandemic – and of mask-wearing – has hampered both public health efforts and collaboration among businesses, community organizations and health care entities. Political tensions have given rise to misinformation, reinforced on social media, that can be difficult to turn around. If people aren’t taking protective measures, when COVID-19 does come in, it can easily and quickly spread.
In some communities, the resumption of small-town activities, such as school, church and sports events, has led to more infections. Experts have pointed to social gatherings, including the nearly 500,000-strong Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota in August, as sources of the recent COVID-19 surge in the upper Midwest.
Pinpointing COVID-19 outbreaks early and stopping the spread can also be harder in rural areas.
Funding for rural public health departments has long been anemic, crippling their ability to test, share data and conduct contact tracing. Limited resources also constrain education and outreach efforts.
These factors, compounded by caring for a population that is comparatively older, sicker and poorer, leave rural communities extraordinarily vulnerable as cases continue to rise.
How to turn the tide of rising cases
Intervening now can slow the rate of rise of COVID-19 cases in rural hot spots while simultaneously building a more robust long-term response.
To be most effective, each rural area’s unique demographics, economies and perspectives should be considered as policies are developed.
For example, allowing rural communities to exert control over their reopening and closing decisions based on local disease transmission dynamics would allow them to better balance disease mitigation with economic impacts. Some states allow rural communities with few or no cases to apply for waivers from statewide public health orders. These applications generally look at local infection data, containment measures and health care capacity.
Changing the nature of the conversation around COVID-19 in the community can also help in implementing simple, effective measures like mask-wearing. When communications are personal, they may be more accepted. For example, a public service message could remind people that wearing a mask keeps your favorite business open and your grandmother healthy. Framing levels of risk in understandable terms for different types of activities can also help, such as how to exercise or socialize safely. Working with trusted local messengers, such as business owners and faith leaders, can help convey evidence-based information.
Planning is also essential. Communities need to prepare so they can get supplies, testing and treatment when needed; protect the most vulnerable community members; educate the community; and support people in isolation and quarantine. A rural regional approach to testing and contact tracing, sharing supplies and swapping staff could help bridge some of the gaps. Getting test results closer to home could decrease wait times and courier costs. Sharing resources across health care organizations could also minimize the burden of response.
3 ways to strengthen systems for the future
COVID-19 isn’t likely to be the last pandemic rural America will see. Here are three ways to strengthen rural systems for the future.
By partnering with universities and local and state agencies, communities can incorporate their unique susceptibilities into dynamic epidemiological models that could better inform local public health and economic decisions.
Aligning public health and health care measures could help governments better balance pandemic responses and ensure all parts of the community are moving toward the same goal.
Increasing broadband access and internet speeds in rural and frontier communities could also help. During the pandemic, people everywhere have appreciated the need for internet connectivity for education, remote work and purchasing goods, as well as virtual health care.
The government spent a record US$85.6 billion on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the fiscal year ending in September. This sum, included in an October Treasury Department report, was about 35% higher than the $63.5 billion the federal government spent in 2019.
Spending on this state-administered program, which helps struggling families put food on the table, typically rises and falls in tandem with unemployment and poverty. Along with unemployment insurance, SNAP is one of the most responsive programs in a recession. The most vulnerable families can get benefits within seven days of applying.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, SNAP spending had been steadily declining since a 2013 peak of nearly $80 billion following the Great Recession. But as the COVID-19-triggered economic crisis hit, monthly spending more than doubled, from $4.9 billion in February to $10.6 billion in June, according to Treasury Department data.
The jump came from two factors. First, more people are getting benefits. Second, roughly 60% of the families who get them are eligible for more support than before.
Specifically, after the Families First Coronavirus Response Act relief package Congress passed in March 2020, the government temporarily offered the maximum benefit, typically given only to those with no income, to all families on SNAP. Following a 5.3% increase announced Oct. 1 in response to rising food costs, that maximum level stands at $680 a month for a family of four.
Despite this SNAP spending boost, lines at food banks have grown much longer during the pandemic.
To help both overwhelmed food banks and struggling farmers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. The government had sent by mid-October 110 million boxes of fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy products and meat to food banks and other organizations assisting people facing economic hardship.
In fact, in researching the history of SNAP for an upcoming book, I found that the program long known as food stamps slowly replaced another program distributing surplus food to the needy in the 1960s. Government researchers found that giving families stamps to exchange for food in grocery stores was more efficient and effective.
Almost 2,500 organizations serving the poor are calling for increasing maximum SNAP benefits by 15%. This would help all families on SNAP – including the 40% with the lowest incomes who have not gotten additional help so far during the pandemic. The House passed relief legislation in May and October that called for this 15% increase. As of late October, the Senate had not taken this step even though food insecurity has grown substantially.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office issued a report on Thursday about the thousands of ballots that it has yet to count in the month-long official canvass.
Tuesday’s presidential election was unique primarily due to the impact of COVID-19, which had resulted in more than 22 million vote-by-mail ballots being issued statewide, including 37,717 issued to the registered voters in Lake County.
On Wednesday, an update on the preliminary count issued by Lake County Registrar Maria Valadez’s office showed that 11,157 ballots had been tallied as part of the initial count in the races for president, and state offices and propositions.
Based on past practice, once it has given preliminary reports on the count either by Election Night or the following day, the elections office doesn’t issue any additional updates on race counts until the election is certified in early December.
However, the registrar does report on unprocessed ballots early in the process, and that was the report Valadez issued on Thursday.
Valadez said that altogether her office has approximately 18,270 ballots still to count over the coming weeks, in addition to the more than 11,000 counted so far.
Those 18,270 ballots break down as follows:
– Vote-by-mail ballots received through Election Day, Nov. 3: 9,983. – Vote-by-mail ballots received on Nov. 4: 232. – Vote-by-mail ballots received on Nov. 5: 73. – Vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at the polls on Election Day: 4,344. – Provisional and conditional ballots voted at the polls on Election Day: 2,950. – Provisional and conditional ballots voted at the Elections Office: 159. – Vote-by-mail ballots that require further review for various reasons: 529.
That overall count is still subject to change in the coming weeks.
Normally, state election law allows ballots to be counted if they were postmarked on or before Election Day and arrived no later than three days after the date of the election.
However, a newly enacted state election law, Elections Code section 3020(d), changed the deadline for election officials to receive vote-by-mail ballots returned by mail for the Nov. 3, 2020, General Election only.
Valadez said that new law allows county elections officials to count a vote-by-mail ballot if it is postmarked on or before Election Day and delivered to the elections office by the US Postal Service or a private mail delivery company no later than 17 days after Election Day, or Nov. 20.
Based on the numbers provided so far by Valadez’s office, Lake County appears to be on track for a voter turnout of well over 70 percent.
Ongoing counts common following elections
Having large numbers of ballots still to count following elections, especially for key federal and state offices, is typical, not just in Lake but in other counties across the state and nation.
For comparison, for the Nov. 8, 2016, general election, the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office’s report on unprocessed ballots showed that it had 11,911 ballots remaining to count following Election Day, a number which included 1,497 provisionals – half of this year’s total – and 9,453 vote-by-mail ballots received either by mail, at the polls or the elections office by Election Day, about 5,000 less than this year.
The California Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday issued its reports on the estimated number of unprocessed ballots for the Nov. 3 General Election, reporting that there are 4,523,196 uncounted ballots statewide.
That breaks down as 4,079,126 vote-by-mail ballots, 68,619 provisionals, 285,993 conditional voter registration provisionals – a result of the “same day” voter registration process that’s new this year – and 89,458 ballots classified as “other.”
Overall, the total number of unprocessed ballots in California this year is only about 200,000 less than the number the state reported just after the Nov. 8, 2016, general election.
The biggest difference between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, when it comes to the state’s unprocessed ballot numbers, is that in 2016 vote-by-mail ballots totaled just over 3.1 million, compared to just over four million this year.
In 2016, there were more than one million provisional ballots, compared to 354,612 provisions – 68,619 regular provisionals and 285,993 conditional registration provisionals – this year.
The election count is considered preliminary until the official canvass is completed and the election certified in early December.
Valadez’s office has until Dec. 1 to report Lake County’s presidential election results to the Secretary of State’s Office, with a Dec. 4 deadline for state and local contests.
The state in turn will certify results by Dec. 11, three days before the Electoral College is due to meet.
Editor’s note: On Friday, the Registrar of Voters Office issued an updated report which increased the number of vote-by-mail ballots received through Election Day from 9,947 to 9,983. The overall number of ballots still to be counted in that revised report remained at 18,270, the same as in the initial report from Thursday.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council is set to consider purchasing a property to develop for housing, commercial and recreational uses and also will discuss a letter of intent to sell a portion of Redbud Park for a hotel development project.
The council will meet for a closed session at 5:30 p.m. to discuss negotiations for a property at 14885 Burns Valley Road owned by One Shot Mining before the public portion of the meeting convenes at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5.
Because of the county’s shelter in place order, Clearlake City Hall remains closed to the public, however, the virtual meeting will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel or the Lake County PEG TV YouTube channel. Community members also can participate via Zoom.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can also visit the city’s town hall site and submit written comments at https://www.opentownhall.com/portals/327/forum_home. Identify the subject you wish to comment on in your email’s subject line or in your town hall submission.
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments prior to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5.
The council will get an update on November’s adoptable dogs, and host presentations for recognition of five-year and 25-year employees, offer appreciation to trunk or treat and “You’ve Been Boo’ed” volunteers, and hear a presentation by the Lake County Economic Development Corp. on the Small Business Program.
On Thursday, the council will consider a purchase agreement with One Shot Mining Co. LLC for parcels located at 14885 Burns Valley Road, 14795 Burns Valley Road, 14760 Olympic Drive, 3334 Washington St., 3359 Washington St. and 3367 Washington St.
The Clearlake Planning Commission held a special Tuesday evening during which it considered whether the purchase was in keeping with the general plan, as Lake County News has reported.
City Manager Alan Flora wrote in his report to the council that the city has been exploring locations for a new Public Works corporation yard. At the same time, the city was looking for a large parcel that also could accommodate other uses.
“This analysis identified one primary undeveloped site in the City that can accommodate the multiple uses. This is the property north of Safeway on Burns Valley Road, owned by One Shot Mining Company, LLC. The property consists of approximately 31 acres included in three parcels,” he wrote. “Additionally, the City has negotiated to include three additional properties owned by One Shot Mining to the east of Burns Valley Road.”
Flora said the overall project would include development of the westernmost portion of the property for the Public Works yard and some space for the Clearlake Police Department’s evidence storage. He said that area of the property is well suited for this use adjacent to the Pacific Gas and Electric corporation yard.
“The north eastern corner of the property is well suited for multi-family housing development. The eastern portion of the property along Burns Valley Road is envisioned for either retail development or the location for a community recreation center. The remaining middle portion of the property would be developed for new softball fields and potentially some soccer fields as well. After the purchase is approved the City will immediately begin work on site planning and design,” Flora said.
He said the city and One Shot Mining have agreed to a total sales price for the six parcels of $870,000. “The purchase will be made in three annual payments, $300,000 per year for each of the first two years and then a final payment of $270,000. The payments will not accrue any interest.”
One of the existing buildings has been removed by the owners, and the second building on Olympic Drive will be removed prior to the close of escrow, Flora wrote.
He is asking for the council to approve the purchase and sale agreement and authorize him to sign the agreement and other documents needed to close escrow.
Flora’s report said the purchase is a step toward city goals of supporting economic development and marketing real estate for development.
Under business, the council will discuss approval of a letter of intent with King Management, LLC, which wants to purchase a portion of Redbud Park at 14800 Ballpark Ave.
Flora’s report on the proposal to the council explains that Redbud Park and Thompson Harbor have been utilized for bass fishing tournaments for many years.
“One of the amenities that many launching sites have that make them more attractive is nearby hotel developments. Clearlake in general has a shortage of quality rooms that may be attractive to both anglers and other tourists,” he said.
Flora said the city entered into a letter of intent in July with King Management for development of a hotel at the former Pearce Field airport property.
“King Management is still interested in this project but is also interested in a hotel development at the Redbud Park site,” said Flora.
The council also is discussing the purchase of the 31-acre parcel on Burns Valley Road, which Flora said would offer the chance to develop new recreational amenities, including softball fields, at that site, and allowing the development of the existing fields for a hotel and other retail uses.
He said the proposed agreement would provide King Management a six-month window to perform due diligence and work through infrastructure and other planning items with the city.
“If adequate interest exists, the parties would negotiate a purchase and sale contract, or possibly a long-term lease agreement,” Flora said.
Flora said King Management proposes a nationally branded 60 to 80 room hotel with a small conference center, pool and other amenities.
The city would ensure that no development would occur at Redbud Park unless new replacement softball fields are constructed at another location, Flora said.
The proposed letter of intent covers approximately 2.5 acres on the far eastern portion of the property, leaving approximately four additional acres available for retail development. “This project would not impact the Youth Center property,” Flora added.
In other business on Thursday, the council will consider a senior planner position and modification to the management benefit plan and salary schedule update and discuss adopting a joint powers agreement and bylaws for the California Intergovernmental Risk Authority, which permits the merger of Public Agency Risk Sharing Authority of California and the Redwood Empire Municipal Insurance Fund.
Also on Thursday, the council will continue its consideration of updating the city’s zoning code, design review procedures and design standards, and hold a first reading on the changes.
On the meeting's consent agenda – items that are not considered controversial and are usually adopted on a single vote – are warrant registers; minutes of the Sept. 9 Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting; minutes of the Oct. 1 meeting; consideration of continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on Oct. 9, 2017, and ratified by council action Oct. 12, 2017; consideration of continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on March 14, 2020, and ratified by council action March 19, 2020; consideration of a resolution adopting the fifth amendment to the FY 2020/21 Budget (Resolution No. 2020-27) appropriating funding and releasing the self insurance reserve, Resolution No. 2020-56; consideration of Resolution No. 2020-53, a resolution of the city of Clearlake, approving a temporary street closure for the annual Rotary of Clearlake Christmas Dinner; award of contract for design services for the Public Works Shop Site Planning Phase I; adoption of Resolution 2020-57 authoring the application for and receipt of Local Early Action Planning Grant Program funds.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – While thousands of ballots remain to be counted, initial reports from Lake County election officials overnight gave early indications of the winners in key races on the general election ballot.
The Registrar of Voter’s Office issued several initial ballot count reports from Tuesday night into early Wednesday, with the last issued at 1:40 a.m.
Based on those preliminary reports, Jessica Pyska of Cobb is leading the race for District 5 supervisor with 944 votes, or 69.21 percent of the vote, while Bill Kearney of Kelseyville has 420 votes, or 30.79 percent.
For the District 4 State Assembly race, incumbent Cecelia Aguiar-Curry appears to have won reelection.
The Secretary of State’s Office reported that, with 100 percent of 522 precincts partially reporting, Aguiar-Curry, a Democrat, leads with 95,635 votes or 70.4 percent, while Republican challenger Matthew Nelson trails with 40,223 votes or 29.6 percent.
In the contested Lakeport City Council race, preliminary results show incumbent Kenny Parlet tied with Michael Green, at 579 votes each, followed by Nathan Maxman with 366 votes and Michael Froio with 355 votes.
In the Clearlake City Council race, with three seats available and two qualified candidates, incumbent Joyce Overton has 1,063 votes, followed by David Claffey, with 1,009 votes.
Three local school board races are on the ballot this year.
The Kelseyville Unified School District Board has three seats. Gilbert Rangel has the most votes in the preliminary count, 750, followed by Natalie Higley, 661; Mary Beth Mosko, 480; and incumbent, Beniakem D. Cromwell, 421.
In the Konocti Unified School District, with two seats up for election, incumbents Mary Silva, with 1,382 votes, and Susan Burton, with 1,348 votes, lead the field based on the count so far, followed by challengers Zabdy Neria, 1,171 votes, and Michael “Mac” McMurtrey, with 1,074 votes.
For the Upper Lake Unified School Board, with two seats up for election, incumbent Claudine Pedroncelli leads the field with 786 ballots, followed by Franklin Gudmundson, 606 votes, and Don Meri, 444 votes.
In the Callayomi County Water District, two board seats are being selected in the election. The initial vote count has incumbent Rosemary Córdova in the lead with 54 votes, followed by Sandra Harris, 47 votes, and Roger Rosenthal, 28 votes.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After an October that is reported to have been warmer than normal, the National Weather Service is forecasting cooler temperatures for the coming weekend as well as chances of rain plus snow in mountain areas.
The agency issued a hazardous weather outlook for Lake, Mendocino and Humboldt counties for the coming week.
The forecast calls for a strong cold front moving into the area through Friday, bringing periods of cooler weather, heavy rain, gusty winds and high elevation snow to Northwest California.
The National Weather Service predicts light mountain showers with possible breaks in precipitation during the day on Saturday. That’s expected to be followed by heavier mountain snow, mainly in the Sierra Nevada, on Saturday night into Sunday.
By Monday, conditions are expected to clear, with dry and cool weather.
The specific Lake County forecast calls for chances of showers overnight Thursday and into Friday, with a 30-percent chance of showers during the day on Friday and a 20 percent chance on Friday night.
At the same time, temperatures are forecast to drop into the 50s through Sunday, with nighttime temperatures into the low 40s. There also are chances of light winds up to 9 miles per hour.
Next week, daytime temperatures are forecast to be back into the 60s while nighttime temperatures could drop into the high 30s.
On Thursday, the forecast calls for a slight chance of showers.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The work of counting the ballots cast by mail or in person by Lake County’s voters continued on Wednesday after a long election night.
The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office, continuing the process of counting the ballots, issued one update on Wednesday afternoon.
That report showed no change in the shape of the local races so far, including the most closely-watched race of the season, for the District 5 seat on the Board of Supervisors, in which Jessica Pyska continues to lead Bill Kearney with a substantial margin.
The report showed that 11,157 ballots have been counted for the state and federal races. However, a total of 37,717 vote by mail ballots were issued in Lake County, and of those 16,823 had been reported returned by Monday.
With thousands more ballots cast in person on Tuesday or still making their way to the elections office via mail, knowing just how many ballots there are to count could take weeks. That’s because the state has extended the deadline for accepted mailed ballots; those postmarked by Election Day can be accepted up to 17 days afterward.
Presidential elections have typically seen voter turnout close to, or above, 70 percent in Lake County, and vote by mail – or absentee – voting has increased in recent years.
The registrar’s office typically issues a report within a week or so of the election that will give an estimate on how many ballots remain to be counted.
Elections officials have a month to conduct the official canvass in which they go through a thorough process that leads to the final certification of the results in early December.
Typically, once it reports on the number of ballots left to count, the Lake County Registrar of Voters will not issue updates until the final canvass is completed.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In Lake County or any other community across the country, the 2020 presidential election is unlike any other – whether it’s for voters or the people who are working to run the election process.
Thanks to COVID-19, this year saw a host of changes to casting ballots, with a shift toward voting by mail. For in-person voting, there were new safety protocols – including requirements to wear masks and social distance – while poll workers found themselves also having to regularly sanitize surfaces for the protection of voters.
Lake County News this year participated in the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office’s Election Observer Panel, which included seven community members who visited the 22 polling places in Lake County to watch how the process went on Election Day.
During the afternoon and early evening, a visit to five precincts – from Lucerne to Lakeport – revealed consistent trends, from large numbers of provisional ballots and same-day voter registrations being submitted to a steady stream of voters throughout the day.
Poll workers reported that the new protocols in place for this year’s election caused some frustration for voters – whether it was having to wait in lines or their desire to turn in their ballots in order to vote in person.
In one case, a man was reported to have thrown a pen at a poll worker at the Mormon church in Lakeport. A few frustrated voters were reported to have called the Secretary of State’s Office to complain about the process; the poll staffers said the individuals who made the complaints had been confrontational and confused.
Wanting to vote in person
This year, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s county election offices issued 22,389,846 vote by mail – or absentee – ballots to the state’s registered voters. By Monday, the Secretary of State’s Office said 11,807,069 had been returned, with 98.83 percent of those ballots accepted.
In Lake County, 37,717 vote by mail ballots were issued, and by Monday 16,823 ballots had been returned, with 98.64 percent accepted, the Secretary of State’s Office reported.
At the Community Baptist Church in Nice, polling staffers had one room set aside for people to come in and drop off their ballots, with another room organized with six voting booths for people to actually cast their ballots.
Poll workers, sitting behind plexiglass barries, handed out pens – which voters got to keep – and ballots, explained the process for voting either on paper or with voting machines (which reportedly got more use than in past years), then helped them put the ballots in the appropriate boxes and gave out “I Voted” stickers.
Many vote by mail ballots were surrendered so people could vote in person.
But, in many cases, people came to the polls without having registered to vote or without their issued ballots, according to polling staffers.
In the case of the former, they were allowed for the first time to do “same day” – or conditional – registration and cast their vote.
In the latter, pink provisional ballots were given to voters who hadn’t received ballots, had them and didn’t bring them to the polls or had lost them.
During visits to the polling precincts on Tuesday afternoon, this reporter watched as numerous provisional ballots were handed out to residents who lined up to vote.
Marilyn Pivniska, the precinct inspector for Lucerne, said she’s never seen so many provisional ballots. She said people were upset with having to vote provisionally and that they didn’t understand that they could have avoided provisional voting if they had brought their vote by mail ballots to the polls.
Steady streams of visitors
At North Shore Christian Fellowship on Main Street in Upper Lake, there was a steady stream of voters throughout Election Day, with about a dozen people lined up inside the church during the afternoon.
“It’s been a very busy day,” said Melinda Wright, working as a greeter at the polls.
The greeter is a new position assigned to help control the flow of voters moving through the polls in accordance with social distancing guidelines.
Wright also reported that people were confused about the need to bring their ballots to the polls either to drop them off or surrender them to avoid provisional voting.
Wright said some people were “grumbly” but not confrontational. One man, in frustration, was swearing at the new process for casting ballots.
“Some people can roll with it,” she said. “Others, not so much.”
Turning in vote by mail ballots
At the Mormon Church in Lakeport, Phyllis Navarro, the precinct inspector, and her crew were welcoming many voters who wanted to turn in their ballots, which were stored in a bulging vote by mail ballot bag.
But like the other polls, they reported many people coming in and having to vote provisionally because of not bringing their vote by mail ballots.
It was there that a frustrated man threw a pen at a poll worker, left, came back to show them he had a ballot and then sat in the lobby, where he tried to talk to other voters and ask if they had their ballots. The greeter told him to stop.
The Lakeport poll workers said that the social aspect of voting has been important to people – going to their precinct and seeing their friends and neighbors. That tradition has been disrupted this year.
Local authorities had been vigilant in case of election-related problems. However, Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said his agency received no reports of issues on Tuesday.
A long day and night at the courthouse
At the Lake County Courthouse in downtown Lakeport, the polling area that could normally be found in the hallway outside the Registrar of Voters Office on the second floor was moved downstairs to the Board of Supervisors chambers on Tuesday.
The chambers, which in pre-COVID times had a maximum occupancy of 144 people, now is limited to 24 people. It has been cleared of its seats and on Tuesday seven voting booths for filling out paper ballots and one for the electronic voting machine were stationed around the room.
Shortly before 5 p.m., the staff there was preparing for a final evening rush of voters getting off of work.
Upstairs, scanning of vote by mail ballots that had been returned early was underway. Overseeing the work was Diane Fridley, the county’s retired registrar, and mentor and predecessor to current Registrar Maria Valadez.
In previous years, the work of counting ballots hasn’t always been completed on Election Night. That’s the expectation again this year due to the many additional checks and balances, and the challenges that will come with having to process thousands of provisional ballots as well as conditional ballots.
The polls close
Back at the Lucerne polling place, located at First Lutheran Church, after the polls closed staff started breaking down equipment, running reports for the voting machine and doing the necessary paper reports for stacks of pink provisional ballots.
Pivniska and fellow precinct inspector Bruce Maxwell then needed to transport some of the equipment and cases of ballots to the Registrar of Voters Office, where the first absentee ballot count report was issued before 9 p.m. and the last for the night came out at 1:40 a.m.
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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Oct. 26, First 5 Lake County’s executive director, Carla Ritz, and chairperson and District 4 supervisor, Tina Scott, distributed 394 cases of diapers and 169 cases of wipes to 12 local family-serving agencies and organizations.
The supplies were provided by First 5 California in response to the growing needs of families with young children due to recent wildfires and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In April of this year, First 5 California approved up to $4 million to support the acquisition and distribution of county-identified essential supplies for babies and young children, in addition to much-needed sanitation items.
“We have a role to play in helping California overcome this ongoing emergency. My fellow commissioners and I acted quickly to support funding for vital provisions that will help childcare providers and the broader community, while supporting essential workers throughout the state,” said George Halvorson, chair of the First 5 California Commission.
“The need is immediate, it is deep, and it affects more children and families than we can possibly serve,” said Camille Maben, executive director of First 5 California. “With our partners, we will continue to support the child care providers and essential workers who put their own health at risk as they provide much-needed services during this unprecedented time.”
To facilitate the purchase and distribution of these supplies, First 5 California worked in conjunction with www.SupplyBank.org, a California-based nonprofit that specializes in leveraging bulk purchasing power and innovative supply chain strategies to provide low-cost supplies to organizations supporting low-income and vulnerable populations.
“In Lake County,” said Ritz, “we distributed cases of diapers and wipes to our partners: Lake Family Resource Center, Mother-Wise, the Lake County Childcare Planning Council, Child Welfare Services, Lake County Tribal Health, Healthy Start, Adventist Health Clearlake, Sutter Lakeside Hospital, E-Center WIC, Easterseals Bay Area, and Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake.”
All of these supplies will be distributed by the individual agencies to the Lake County families whom they serve.
Earlier in the pandemic, diapers, wipes, disinfecting solution, hand soap, masks, gloves, and children’s books from First 5 California were delivered to North Coast Opportunities Rural Communities Child Care and distributed to participating child care providers in Lake County who remained open to serve the children of essential workers.
This effort, to distribute essential supplies in times of crisis, is aligned with First 5 Lake’s 2019-2024 Strategic Plan which is based on the Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework.
Concrete support in times of need is one of the five protective factors identified in the framework which promote the positive wellbeing and healthy development of children.
Additional protective factors include parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, and social and emotional competence of children.
For more information about this and other First 5 Lake initiatives, visit www.firstfivelake.org.
The First 5 Lake County supports programs and services that promote the health and development of young children and educate parents, grandparents, caregivers and teachers about the critical role they play during a child’s first five years. Funding is derived from California Proposition 10’s voter-mandated tax on tobacco products.
Since its inception in 2000, First 5 Lake has supported thousands of families with programs and services designed to help Lake County children grow up healthy and ready to succeed in school and life.
Current First 5 Lake Commissioners are Denise Pomeroy, Brock Falkenberg, Tina Scott, Crystal Markytan, Susan Jen, Carly Sherman, Allison Panella and Fawn Rave.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Crews are making good progress on fire suppression repair across all areas of the South Zone of the August Complex.
The US Forest Service said the hard work of fire personnel is paying off keeping the South Zone at 499,826 acres and increasing containment to 97 percent. The South Zone includes the Mendocino National Forest in northern Lake County.
In addition to the Mendocino National Forest, the complex is burning in the Six Rivers and Shasta Trinity National Forests.
The entire August Complex, started by lightning on Aug. 16 and 17, is estimated at 1,032,649 acres and 93 percent containment.
As the August Complex nears full containment, incident management personnel are beginning to plan for a smooth transfer of responsibility back to local forest leadership, officials said.
There are 273 personnel working on the South Zone and 687 personnel on the entire incident, the Forest Service said.
The Forest Service said crews are continuing to focus on fire suppression repair in priority areas around the Sanhedrin Wilderness, in wild and scenic river corridors in the Mill Creek area, and in locations that are prone to landslides along key forest travel routes such as the M1 and M6 roads.
Additionally, officials said progress is being made on opening roadways and removing hazard trees to allow for further suppression repair activity throughout the forest.
In the interest of the safety of firefighters and visitors to the national forests in the Pacific Southwest Region, fire restrictions were extended to Nov. 6 to prevent further fires from being started and overtaxing the resources of those fighting existing wildfires.
The Forest Service estimates the complex will be fully contained on Dec. 15, at which point it will have burned for four months.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The two men who represent Lake County in the US House of Representatives were reelected with wide margins on Tuesday.
Congressman John Garamendi, a Democrat representing the Third Congressional District, and Mike Thompson, a Democrat representing the Fifth Congressional District, won new two-year terms in the general election.
The California Secretary of State’s Office reported that, with 563 precincts partially reporting as of 2 a.m. Wednesday, Garamendi was leading Republican challenger Tamika Hamilton with 123,527 ballots to 89,220 ballots, or 58.1 to 41.9 percent.
Thompson led his Republican challenger, Scott Giblin, 193,191 to 52,493 votes, or 78.6 percent to 21.4 percent, with 821 precincts partially reporting.
Garamendi thanked voters for their support. “This victory gives us an opportunity to continue the critically important work that’s before us,” he said in a Tuesday night statement.
“The national election has exposed the reality of a deeply divided nation in remarkably stark terms. This is not new to America. Our history is filled with periods of conflict, but America always moves toward a ‘More Perfect Union.’ President Lincoln Charged Americans to ‘bind up the Nation’s wounds’ in his second inaugural address. After years of division, we must heal similar wounds today,” Garamendi said.
“The pain our nation has endured from the COVID-19 pandemic has reached new heights in recent weeks as cases and deaths are both on the rise. The American people deserve a new round of stimulus checks, our hospitals require additional PPE and supplies, and our schools need resources to safely welcome back their students. Senate GOP leadership has blocked several Democratic bills to address these issues, but I have newfound hope and optimism that tonight’s strong show of support for Democrats throughout the country will provide the votes that are needed to pass these bills and provide relief for the American people,” he continued.
Garamendi said policies must be enacted to address the climate crisis and create millions of good-paying middle-class manufacturing jobs in the clean energy sector.
He also emphasized the need to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure using American materials and workers, pledged to continue to advance his “Make it in America” and “Buy American” agendas to achieve this goal, promised to ensure that the nation’s policies promote the production of safe, affordable food for the district and communities around the world, and said he also will fight to ensure the region's water is protected and that there are investments in new storage infrastructure like the off-stream Sites Reservoir Project.
Thompson said he is “humbled and honored” to have earned the trust of the district to represent the community in Congress.
“Serving the place where I was born, grew up and raised my family is the greatest honor of my life. Know that I will work tirelessly in the upcoming Congress to ensure our district is the best place in the nation to raise a family, start a business and retire with dignity,” he said in a Tuesday night statement.
“Our district is facing many challenges, between the pandemic that has changed the way we live our lives and a devastating fire season that has destroyed so many homes and businesses. I know we can rise to meet this tough time. I will continue working to pass another Coronavirus relief package so we can support our local working families and small businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic and need help. I’ll also continue working to bring back every Federal dollar and resource to help our district recover from the LNU Lightning Complex and Glass fires. I know we can get through this by working together,” he said.
“This was the most important election of my lifetime, one that will have consequences for decades to come. I am awed at the way that people in our district and across our nation turned out to vote and worked to help their friends and neighbors get out to vote. This spirit of civic service is one that we must all work to bring to our daily lives,” he said.
Thompson added, “As the results continue to come in, I encourage you to remain patient, to listen to the election officials who finalize these races, and to always check the source of information on which you rely. Whatever the results bring, know that I will continue fighting hard for our district and accomplishing the things that will move us forward.”
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.