The unofficial election results released by the county early Wednesday morning showed clear winners in the 1st and 3rd districts’ supervisor races, but 2nd District candidates Estelle Fennell and Clif Clendenen are headed for a runoff.

But Clendenen and Fennell may see a third candidate on the ballot in November.

While the deceased incumbent Roger Rodoni received the most of votes, state election laws prohibit his name from appearing on the November ballot because he didn’t earn the necessary 50-percent-plus-one vote needed to win.

Speculation is growing that his widow could move forward with a write-in candidacy that few expected, but may not be legally forbidden.

Supervisor Johanna Rodoni, who was appointed by the governor earlier this month to fill the vacant seat created when her husband was killed in an April 24 auto crash, said Wednesday after election that she isn’t sure what comes next.

Rodoni said she was pleasantly surprised with the election results and acknowledged the hard work of the supporters that earned her late husband the most votes.

“We knew it would be difficult to get the 50 percent plus one,” Rodoni said. “We came in first place. You can’t beat that.”

From a personal point of view, Rodoni said she needs to take care of the many things that have been put on hold until the election was over.

“I don’t know at this point,” Rodoni said. “We are thinking about our options.”

And a write-in candidacy is among those options being considered, although she said she wants to be cautious about moving forward until any legal issues are hammered out.

“I am looking forward to not thinking about it for a few weeks,” Rodoni said.

Clif Clendenen, who earned 36 percent of the votes, said Wednesday he was happy with the results that pits him in a runoff with Fennell.

“I look forward to the election in November,” he said.

But as to the possibility of Rodoni conducting a write-in candidacy for the next election, Clendenen said he would reserve his comments until after the “election scholars” weigh in.

“It’s new to me and it’s new to the more experienced hands, too,” Clendenen said.

And with the primary under his belt, Clendenen said he is ready for a break, but that he is looking forward to resuming campaigning.

Fennell, who said she was also happy with the results Wednesday and optimistic about the upcoming runoff election in November, said her campaign is moving forward.

“I am tremendously proud of our campaign,” Fennell said.

She said she received an outpouring of phone calls Wednesday from pledged and new supporters.

As for a write-in candidacy for Rodoni, Fennell said she never anticipated that possibility.

“This is really news to me,” she said, adding that the issue was in the hands of legal scholars.

Fennell said she anticipated acquiring many of the Rodoni votes, as well as capturing the momentum of the Presidential election in November.

Being mindful not to burn out voters in the district, but taking the challenge very seriously, Fennell said she will take a short break in the campaigning before resume soon.

Carolyn Crnich, the Humboldt County clerk/recorder and registrar of voters, said the possibility of a write-in candidacy for Johanna Rodoni is being looked at by Interim County Counsel Wendy Chaitin.

“At this point, I don’t have an official answer,” Crnich said.

Based on her understanding of the election code, Crnich said she believes that Roger Rodoni’s name wouldn’t appear on the ballot and a runoff would occur between Clendenen and Fennell.

But Crnich said there isn’t anything she sees in the laws that bar Johanna Rodoni from being a write-in candidate.

For now Crnich said she is focusing her attention on completing the work of getting the June 3 election officially certified.

Still remaining for the Elections Office are the many unprocessed absentee ballots — nearly 1,000 of which are from the 2nd District.

Of those, Crnich said there were 435 absentee ballots received at the polls on election night, along with another 521 absentee ballots received previously that still need to be verified.

Another 80 provisional ballots were cast on Tuesday that also need to be tallied.

As of Wednesday afternoon there was no indication anyone was calling for a recount and Crnich said there were no major issues with the election.

“I think it went pretty well,” Crnich said. “We were out of here by 3 a.m.”