District 7 Council Candidate Lyon Maintains Lead With Over 50% of Vote

District 7 City Council Candidate Jason Lyon was the top vote-getter in the race early Wednesday morning as his lead overnight in the City Council election consistently remained over the 50% threshold needed to win the election outright.

Lyon led out of the starting gates at the first election count over Ciran Hadjian and Allen Shay, with more than 53% of the vote.

With 29% of votes counted early Wednesday, Lyon had garnered 1,368 votes or 52.25%, while Hadjian, held onto 36 percent of the vote through much of the night and morning. Shay was in a distant third with just under 11% of the vote.

Should his winning percentage hold, Lyon would win the election outright and avoid a November runoff.

He currently serves as Vice Chair of the Pasadena Planning Commission. He has previously served on the Historic Preservation Commission and a number of local nonprofit boards. He was the president of the Board of Young & Healthy from 2017 to 2019.

He is also endorsed by three members of the City Council – Vice Mayor Andy Wilson, Jess Rivas and Steve Madison.

Lyon is also supported by Pasadena’s regional and national representatives, Congressmember Judy Chu, Supervisor Kathryn Barger, and State Senator Anthony Portantino. Lyon’s campaign website lists the support of more than 80 local leaders and organizations.

District 7 is home to many of Pasadena’s iconic institutions, including the Pasadena Playhouse, Caltech, Pasadena Community College, the Langham Huntington Hotel, and the Constance Hotel.

The County Registrar’s office is not expected to release further vote counts until Friday.

After Election Night in a statewide election, there are still thousands of ballots that need to be counted, including Vote by Mail ballots received on Election Day, provisional ballots, write-in ballots and damaged ballots. These ballots are counted during the 30-day period known as the Official Election Canvass. Ballots also require additional review to verify voters are eligible to vote and write-in ballots were cast for qualified candidates.

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.