District 7 Candidates Monitoring Election Returns as Runoff Hangs in Balance

City Council District 7 frontrunner candidate Jason Lyon told Pasadena Now on Wednesday that he continues to monitor the election, but is also focusing on the work ahead.

Lyon led out of the starting gate at the first election count over opponents Ciran Hadjian and Allen Shay with 52.25% of the vote.

But with only two-thirds of the District’s votes counted so far and with likely more than 1,300 votes yet to be tallied, Hadjian points to the possibility of a runoff. To avoid a November runoff Lyon must win more than 50% of the vote.

Lyon said he will “have to continue to monitor the returns to be certain. For now, I want to congratulate my opponents on making it across the finish line. It was a long race, and I know we all worked hard.”

“Whatever the final outcome of the primary, I am proud to have run a positive, accountable, and issues-focused campaign,” Lyon said. “I am grateful to the many volunteers who worked so hard to get our message out, and I’m happy that the message resonated with voters.”

“At this point,” Lyon said, “it looks likely that District 7 will be able to avoid a runoff.”

But Hadjian said she still believed the race could end in a runoff.

“This was a tough election where I was outspent more than 2 to 1 by Lyon and his city police union supporters,” Hadjian said.

She said she believes that if the election day trend continues then the overall share of votes for the Lyon campaign may drop below 50% and trigger a runoff.

“Although Lyon and his police union supporters were able to win 54% of the early mail-in votes, they did substantially worse with votes cast on election day, winning only 45% of the vote with Allen Shay and I combining to win 55%,” she told Pasadena Now.

“The police union is currently attempting to negotiate a pay increase and I can promise that their unprecedented attempt to interfere in this election and handpick a Councilmember will be an important issue in any runoff.”

The County Registrar’s office is expected to release more of the vote tally on Friday and also scheduled further count updates for June 14, June 17, June 2,1 June 24, and June 28 if needed.

California state law requires the County Registrar to complete and certify results within 30 days. This provision of the law recognizes the complexity of completing the ballot count and conducting a thorough audit of the election results to ensure accuracy.

The Registrar’s office said in a statement that it realizes it is difficult for candidates/campaigns involved in close contests to wait for results of the election. The legally mandated processes described above are utilized to guarantee that every vote is counted and included in the official final election returns.

Candidate Allen Shay did not respond to requests for his comments.