As of Thursday afternoon, Nov. 5, 2026, the Contra Costa Elections office announced there are 184,200 unprocessed ballots remaining to be counted in the county from Tuesday’s election.
Also, they announced the next results update is expected to be provided Friday afternoon, Nov. 6 at 4:00 p.m.
The remaining ballots could affect the outcome of several close races in the county including the Antioch City Council District 1 and Antioch School Board Area 5 Trustee races.
Currently challenger and former Councilwoman Joy Motts leads incumbent Tamisha Torres-Walker in the council race and incumbent Mary Rocha leads challenger Brandon Dawkins in the school board race. (See related article)
Following is the breakdown of the Estimated number of unprocessed ballots:
Ballots voted at a voting location – 200
Vote-by-mail ballots received on or before Election Day – 165,000
Vote-by-mail ballots received after Election Day – 12,000
Next Results Expected (date and time): Friday, 11/6/2026 – 4:00 PM.
As of Wednesday morning’s update at 12:12 AM, a total of 280,686 ballots had been counted, out of 733,037 registered voters in the county. The remaining ballots make up almost 40 percent of the total 464,886 estimated ballots cast. They don’t include ballots that can still arrive by next Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. that were mailed and postmarked this past Tuesday.
Said at yesterday’s meeting amendments don’t go far enough to address costs of mandated appliance renovations
By Keegan Coleman, Director, Actum
SAN FRANCISCO – The California Rental Housing Association (CalRHA) issued a statement after the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) Board of Directors yesterday voted to adopt amendments to Rule 9-6, the district’s ban on the sale and installation of new natural gas water heaters.
According to a post on the Air District’s X account Wednesday afternoon, “The Air District Board approved updates to the zero-NOx water heater rule that delay implementation to January 2028 and allow exemptions for low-income homeowners, properties with electrical limitations and space-constrained homes.” (See meeting agenda and presentation, watch video and see related article)
CalRHA was joined by hundreds of Bay Area residents including housing and property organizations, such as Better Housing Policies, Business and Housing Network, Santa Clara Association of Realtors, San Mateo County Association of Realtors, East Bay Rental Housing Association, Berkeley Property Owners Association, South County Business Alliance, Silicon Valley Business Alliance, and Small Property Owners of San Francisco Institute, in opposing the gas appliance ban and testifying at the Air District’s September, October and November board meetings. CalRHA will continue to advocate for policies that protect residents, small rental property owners and the renters who depend on them.
“Today’s vote to delay implementation by one year happened despite concerns from Board members over costs, impact to seniors and families on fixed incomes, and electric grid blackouts,” said Adam Pearce, President, CalRHA. “We are grateful to every member, affiliate and coalition partner who spoke out at the September, October, and November Board meetings, and took time away from their families and businesses to make their voices heard. But a delay and set of unworkable exemptions don’t fix the core problem. A hard sales ban tied to replacement cycles still puts the financial and logistical burden on housing providers.
Under the amended rule, a gas water heater that fails after the compliance date must be replaced with an electric model, which in many Bay Area buildings constructed before 1980 means new circuits, upgraded electrical panels and often new service lines from the street. Upgrading panels and service lines alone can cost from $11,500 to more than $120,000 per building, according to a 2023 California Public Utilities Commission report.
“We have asked the Air District for a new cost analysis that reflects what conversion really costs in older buildings,” added Pearce. “We have also asked for alternative financial incentives, so mom-and-pop housing providers already dealing with rent control, rising insurance premiums and thinning margins aren’t left to absorb those costs on their own. We share the goal of clean air, and we will keep working with the Air District to reach it without making housing more expensive or pushing small housing providers out of the industry.”
For a small property owner with a duplex or fourplex, compliance could cost six figures across the property and wipe out years of net operating income, and where rent control applies, capital improvement pass-throughs are slow, contested and often capped far below actual costs.
About the California Rental Housing Association
The California Rental Housing Association represents 14,000+ members totaling more than 805,000+ units, made up of small, medium, and large rental housing owners throughout the State of California. Our purpose is to advocate for the best interests of the rental housing industry and collectively address industry needs.
Amendments directly address affordability concerns and installation barriers while maintaining public health benefits
One of Contra Costa’s three representatives, Gioia votes in favor, Carlson, Adams absent
By Bay Area Air Quality Management District Communications
SAN FRANCISCO – The Bay Area Air District Board of Directors voted on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, to amend Rule 9-6, delaying the zero-NOx residential water heater requirement by one year and establishing exemptions for low-income property owners and for properties where electrical or space constraints make the transition especially difficult. The motion passed 14-1 with eight directors absent.
The amendments delay the compliance date from January 2027 to January 2028. The standard applies only when a property owner replaces an existing water heater. It does not require any household to remove a working appliance, and it does not apply to stoves, dryers or fireplaces.
“Water heaters are a significant source of air pollution in the Bay Area, and cleaner alternatives can help people live longer, healthier lives,” said Dr. Philip Fine, executive officer of the Air District. “With these practical amendments, the Board focuses the rule on the properties that can most easily make the switch and gives relief to households that cannot afford the change without financial assistance.”
“The Board raised real questions about cost and implementation in May. Staff did the work, and the rule we adopted today reflects what we heard,” said Air District Board Chair Lynda Hopkins. “This decision protects public health and respects what households can manage. I thank the residents, contractors and local governments who took part in this process.”
Contra Costa County District 1 Supervisor John Gioia explains his vote in favor of the amendments to Rule 9-6 at the Bay Area Air District Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. Video screenshot
During the Board discussion, Contra Costa County District 1 Supervisor John Gioia, who is one of three representatives to the regional agency, along with District 4 Supervisor Ken Carlson and Pittsburg’s current Mayor Dionne Adams, said, “…when we started this rule, we said we’re going to check in and that’s what we’ve done. We’ve checked in a couple times. We’re actually delaying the rule so we can allow more time. That was a promise we made to the public and that’s what we’re doing.”
“If this was the previous version as last year I wouldn’t be voting for it,” he continued. “But I think it’s come to us in a way to make it possible to vote for it, continue to evaluate, get what changes that need to be made, and we’re moving this industry to making higher quality, cheaper heat-pump water heaters and…there’s going to be plenty of health benefits…and in time, we’re going to get a better piece of equipment.”
“I want to get us to the point where we help lower-income residents take advantage of the incentives, so they don’t have to be exempt. The exemption is voluntary,” Goia added before voting in favor of the motion to adopt.
Neither Adams nor Carlson attended the meeting. He was sick, according to his Supervisor’s Office staff.
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The Air District Board of Directors voted on November 4 to amend Rule 9-6, delaying the zero-NOx residential water heater requirement by one year and establishing exemptions for low-income property owners and for properties where electrical or space constraints make the transition especially difficult.
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The Air District published the draft amendments on July 14, 2026, a rule proposal package on October 2, 2026, and accepted public comment through the fall.
The amendments establish exemption categories:
• Low-income property owners, defined as those earning less than 80 percent of Area Median Income and including participants in programs such as Medi-Cal or CalFresh; or households paying more than 28 percent of their income toward their mortgage and property taxes.
• Space-constrained properties without enough room or ventilation to install a compliant unit.
• Properties with electrical limitations, such as panels below 100 amps, insufficient panel capacity or a need to run electrical lines more than 50 feet.
The adopted amendments also include allowances for temporary installations for emergency situations and a further delayed compliance date to January 1, 2033, for water heaters installed in multifamily buildings and deed restricted affordable housing as well as certain product categories such as hydronic units, specialized high heat uses, and large water heaters. Water heaters with capacity of 30 gallons or less and mobile home water heaters are not required to comply with the zero-NOx standard.
Rule 9-6 has been in place since 1992, limiting emissions of nitrogen oxides, or NOx, from natural gas-fired water heaters. The Air District amended the rule in 2023 to set a zero-NOx standard. NOx contributes to smog and fine particulate matter, and Air District analysis found that pollution from gas-fired water heaters and furnaces cause as many as 85 premature deaths and 15,000 asthma attacks in the Bay Area each year.
Property owners can find guidance on the compliance timeline, the exemption categories and available rebates on the Air District’s Building Appliances web page.
The Bay Area Air District is the regional agency responsible for protecting air quality in the nine-county Bay Area. Connect with the Air District via X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Newly appointed Antioch Animal Services Manager Catriona “Cat” Cottle with a friend (left) and with Tony La Russa (right), the former Oakland A’s Manager and founder of his namesake Animal Rescue Foundation now known as Joybound People & Pets. Photos: Antioch Animal Services
Antioch’s first Certified Animal Control Officer is now Animal Services Manager
After almost 3 years as Acting Manager
By Antioch Police Department
Please join us in congratulating Catriona “Cat” Cottle on her promotion to Animal Services Manager!
Originally from Ireland, Cat began fostering for a local rescue in 2011 and volunteering at Antioch Animal Services in 2013. Then a legal assistant in San Francisco, she found herself drawn to the shelter and in October 2016, traded legal paperwork for paws, joining APD as an Animal Control Officer!
Since then, Cat has:
Served as Volunteer & Foster Coordinator
Been promoted to Shelter Supervisor in January 2023
Led field response and daily shelter operations
Served as Acting Animal Services Manager since December 2023
Through challenging times and considerable change, her commitment to Antioch’s animals and the people who love them has remained steadfast.
Antioch’s first Certified Animal Control Officer, Cat has trained incoming ACOs and Police trainees to handle animal-related calls with confidence and care. She has also pursued further education through the University of the Pacific’s Shelter Leadership and Operations program and the Citizens Leadership Institute.
Around PD, she’s known for her humor (have you seen the Animal Services social media posts) candid approach, honest nature and visits to Briefing, Records, and Dispatch with puppies and kittens. Some employees have discovered those morale visits come with an adoption pitch!
Outside work, Cat enjoys family time, especially with her grandchildren, hiking, spotting wildlife and lazy days at home with her partner.
Fun fact: After fostering hundreds of animals, Cat has only “foster failed” once: a black cat named Tequila who fell in love with her daughter and decided she was already home.
Congratulations, Cat! From shelter volunteer to Animal Services Manager, what a journey and what a next chapter!
District 4 Councilwoman Monica Wilson, District 1 candidate Joy Motts and Area 5 School Board Trustee Mary Rocha lead in their respective races as of Election Night results Nov. 3, 2026. Photos: Wilson and Motts campaigns, Rocha – AUSD official.
But “thousands of ballots” in the county, as many as “40 to 50 percent of all ballots” remain to be counted
By Allen D. Payton
As of 12:12 AM Wednesday morning, the results from Election Night, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, show two incumbents and one challenger leading in their respective races for the Antioch City Council and School Board. In the District 4 Antioch City Council race, incumbent Monica Wilson appears to be headed for reelection as she has a wide lead over her three opponents, and in the Trustee Area 5 race for the Antioch School Board, incumbent Mary Rocha is leading challenger and newcomer, Brandon Dawkins. In the other city council race in District 1, former Councilwoman Joy Motts is leading incumbent Tamisha Torres-Walker in their third match-up in as many elections. All three started in the lead since the initial returns were posted Tuesday night.
The information is based on the “Unofficial Results – Election Night Final” by the Contra Costa Elections office, with “100% of Precincts Reporting”. However, the numbers only include ballots cast at early polling places beginning last Friday, on Election Day, or received in the mail or picked up from the 43 drop boxes throughout the county by Monday.
According to Elections office staff on Wednesday, there are still “thousands and thousands of ballots” remaining to be counted. That’s because those were placed in the 43 drop boxes, including two in Antioch on Tuesday. The staff member said they were surprised at how many ballots were dropped off yesterday and they had to conduct at least two rounds of pick-ups. Elections office staff picked up ballots from the drop boxes which were full yesterday morning, then went out and picked up more throughout the day as they filled up again.
“We were out all day. They came to the office and emptied them and went back out to pick up more,” said Elections office spokesperson Dawn Kruger. Those don’t include the ballots mailed and postmarked by 5:00 p.m. yesterday which can still arrive by next Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. “About 40 to 50 percent of the total ballots usually come on and just after Election Day,” she stated.
Source: Contra Costa Elections
District 4 Council Race
The Election Night results show Wilson has 2,429 votes or 44.07 percent of the vote and third-time challenger Sandra White in a distant second with 1,594 votes or 28.92 percent. In third place is newcomer Matty Matthews Alappat with 904 votes, or 16.5 percent of the vote, serving as a spoiler to White, and local homeless and affordable housing advocate, Andrew Becker, also running for office for the first time, in fourth place with just 585 votes or 10.61 percent. In response to the initial results, White said, “I’m not running for local office, again.”
Source: Contra Costa Elections
School Board Trustee Area 5 Race
In the Antioch School Board Trustee Area 5 race the latest results show Rocha has increased her lead by the number of votes but decreased in percentage over Dawkins. She now has 1,795 votes or 58.79 percent to his 1,258 votes or 41.21 percent of the vote. When reached for comment Tuesday night about possibly being reelected Rocha said simply, “It’s too early to tell.”
Source: Contra Costa Elections
District 1 Council Race
Finally, in the District 1 Council race, the latest results show Motts maintaining her lead over Torres-Walker, but it had narrowed with each of the two updates. The challenger and former councilwoman now has 1,795 votes – matching Rocha’s current vote count – or 54.16 percent of the vote and Torres-Walker has 1,519 votes or 45.84 percent of the vote. So, the challenger has a current lead of 276 votes over the incumbent.
This is the third time they’ve faced each other, with Torres-Walker unseating Motts in 2020 by 212 votes, then barely beating her in 2022 by just four votes. But both of those races included a third candidate, former Councilman Manny Soliz in 2020 and former School Board Trustee Diane Gibson-Gray in 2022, splitting the vote and allowing Torres-Walker to be elected and reelected with just 36.2 and 34.4 percent of the vote, respectively.
Although she “fully intended to run again” Gibson-Gray later announced in August she would not run, which allowed a head-to-head race between just the current and former councilwomen.
To project what could happen with the remaining ballots based on the turnout four years ago when there were 4,622 votes cast in the District 1 race, plus, a 4.4 percent increase in voter registration countywide since then, that would assume 4,825 total votes were cast in this year’s race. Out of the 1,511 additional assumed votes, Torres-Walker would have to receive 59.2% percent of the remaining votes or 894 votes to 617 for Motts to catch up and take the lead by one vote. However, the incumbent only picked up 54.8 percent of the 429 additional votes in the second update, and 57.2 percent of the 152 votes in the third and final, smaller update last night. But it is still a possibility.
In response to the results and the narrowing vote gap, Motts said Tuesday night, “We’ve been here, before. So, it’s still too soon to know.”
Voter Registration, Next Update & Certification Date
According to Kruger, there are 67,753 registered voters in the city of Antioch and 70,079 in the Antioch Unified School District which has different boundaries than the city.
They don’t know yet how many ballots remain to be counted, but expect to have an update by Thursday afternoon, she shared. “We prepared everything last night so we could put the ballots through the sorter, start checking signatures and we can get through as much of it be Friday,” Kruger added. “That’s our plan.”
According to the schedule on the Elections office website, the Target Certification / Final Results are projected for Dec. 3rd.
Small businesses are the engine of America’s economic and technological future, and the Trump administration knows it. Administration officials have repeatedly cited startup formation and entrepreneurship as key to addressing the nation’s most urgent policy challenges, from AI advancement and scientific leadership to job creation and reindustrialization.
To aid startup growth, administration officials have worked to expand government-backed financing for small firms, attract more private capital to startups, and help entrepreneurs commercialize emerging technologies and leverage domestic manufacturing.
Still, one of the most important ways to strengthen America’s startup ecosystem requires no new federal initiatives or additional funding at all. It simply requires policymakers to preserve a longstanding legal framework that has fueled American entrepreneurship for more than four decades.
Congress passed the bipartisan Bayh-Dole Act in 1980 to create a more effective pathway for federally funded research to become new technologies, products, and businesses — by letting universities, nonprofit research institutions, small businesses, and federal laboratories keep the patent rights to inventions they developed with federal support. That created incentives for universities to license those discoveries to small companies, which could then use the patents to attract capital and invest in further development.
Four and a half decades later, the Bayh-Dole framework remains indispensable to American small business growth.
New research shows that from 2021 through 2025, universities, hospitals, and nonprofit research institutes averaged more than 19,000 income-generating licenses each year — approximately twice the annual average from the early 2000s. Roughly 70% of university licensing agreements are with startups and small companies.
In many cases, those licensing agreements give rise to entirely new companies. Since 2001, the Bayh-Dole system has helped launch more than 19,000 startups.
As these businesses grow, they hire workers, do business with other local companies, and strengthen their regional economies. Since 1996, the Bayh-Dole system has contributed up to $1.7 trillion to U.S. GDP and supported up to 7.6 million years’ worth of jobs for Americans.
Unfortunately, in recent years, the Bayh-Dole system has faced growing uncertainty.
Some policymakers are debating changes that could reduce startups’ access to innovative, federally funded research. One proposed rule change would allow the government to cancel long-term research funding on a political whim. Meanwhile, one agency adopted guidelines that make industry licenses less secure by requiring ongoing product-access plans that can be used to revoke licenses even after products have been developed, which directly violates Bayh-Dole.
That uncertainty could have devastating consequences for startups and America’s innovation ecosystem. Startups often build their businesses around a single unproven invention, and they have fewer resources than larger companies to absorb the risks of developing a new product and bringing it to market.
If small companies cannot reliably protect their patent rights, it could become much harder for them to raise the investment needed to continue researching, testing, and manufacturing new technologies.
Instead of altering the Bayh-Dole system, policymakers must preserve it. Protecting this framework will help ensure that startups can continue turning federally supported discoveries into new companies, jobs, and technologies that strengthen American competitiveness.
Come join us for a great cause at Smith’s Landing Seafood Grill on Thursday, November 5th, from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM for Tip a Cop. All proceeds benefit Special Olympics of Northern California.
Antioch Police Officers will be working alongside the service staff to collect tips / donations from guests to raise funds for Special Olympics.
100 percent of your “special tips” will help support year-round sports training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
Smith’s Landing is located at 1 Marina Plaza, at the foot of L Street in Antioch.
