Menlo Park District 4: Laura Melahn Leads Charlotte Reed 968 to 552 in First Count

MENLO PARK, California — November 5, 2026. The city’s November 3 municipal elections include a contest in City Council District 4 between Laura Melahn and Charlotte Reed. The county results displayed by ABC7’s San Mateo County election table, updated at 2:06 a.m. Wednesday, November 4, give Melahn 968 votes (63.7%) and Reed 552 (36.3%). The reported difference is 416 votes, but the election is not certified.

District 4 is only one part of Menlo Park

Menlo Park elects council representatives in geographic districts. The 1,520 valid votes displayed in this District 4 contest are not citywide turnout and should not be added to the candidate totals from other Menlo Park districts as though they were competing in a single election. Voters’ precise home addresses determine which council seat appears on their ballot.

Three local districts, three different races

California58’s District 1 article reports Wonman Lee with 510 votes against James Rohr’s 175 in the same earlier count. Our District 2 report shows an exceptionally small gap of just nine votes between Vamsi Velagapudi and incumbent Drew Combs in its source-stamped snapshot. These differences are part of why readers should follow their own district’s results rather than a broad citywide headline alone.

What a council seat controls

Menlo Park’s council makes collective decisions about municipal budgets, land use, neighborhood facilities, planning and city services. Individual candidates may advocate different approaches to housing, transportation or municipal spending, but the ballot count itself does not show why individual voters supported them. Subsequent council action requires public decision-making after the election.

What remains to be counted?

The published election-night data do not provide a reliable estimate of the number of unprocessed District 4 ballots. San Mateo County’s broader estimated backlog includes voters from numerous cities and special districts. It would be incorrect to assign the entire county’s backlog to this one council seat or claim a final result from a reporting-percentage graphic.

Where to verify the next results

The San Mateo County Elections Office conducts the official canvass of mailed, provisional and other eligible ballots, as well as required checks. The county must complete its legal election results under the state deadline, and statewide certification follows in December. The figures here are the November 4 at 2:06 a.m. reporting snapshot, checked November 5, not a certified result.

Sources: ABC7 San Francisco San Mateo County local-election data; San Mateo County Elections. Results are preliminary, not an editorial election prediction.

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