RENWL

Unprocessed Mail-in Ballot Count To Determine CA Attorney General, Could Take Weeks

Attorney General candidate Kamala Harris. Hang in there baby girl. We got aunt Ruby to get to workin'. With aunt Ruby's spell plus a few chicken bones and some pickled pig feet juice sprinkled on your doorstep, chile you can't lose.

Tens of thousands of vote-by-mail and provisional ballots have yet to be counted as County election officials are now hustling to begin the tedious process of verifying and counting the large number of remaining vote-by-mail and provisional ballots. This is a task that could take weeks, according to Mercury News.

While post-election counting of provisional and vote-by-mail is typical, this midterm election mail-in and provisional ballot count now takes center stage.  And that’s because one important race among a batch of unresolved smaller ones have remained neck and neck a full day after elections when all California counties have turned in their voter reports.

But uncounted mail-in and provisional votes are different story. Contra Costa Registrar of Voters Steve Weir estimated that his office has 100,000 outstanding ballots, including at least 12,500 in the 11th District.  By comparison, Contra Costa has counted roughly 227,000 ballots, reports Mercury News.

Santa Clara County reported roughly 135,000 uncounted ballots, and San Joaquin County reported 35,000 ballots to process. Alameda County was still compiling its countywide estimates.  Los Angeles County alone has 380,004 mail-in ballots yet to be processed. That’s not including the provisional ballot numbers.

“It is not unusual for there to be several hundred thousand unprocessed ballots throughout California after Election Day,” California, Secretary of State spokeswoman Nicole Winger told Mercury. “This state has millions more registered voters than any other state in the nation and, recognizing that such huge election tallies take time, California law allows 28 days for counties to complete their counts.”

According the Secretary Of State Website this is how it works:

County elections officials must report their final results to the Secretary of State 31 days after Election Day, which for this election is December 3. The Secretary of State then has seven additional days to certify the results of the election, which for this election is December 10.

• Vote-by-mail ballots that are received by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day are opened and counted after voter signatures on the envelopes are verified against voter registration records.
• Provisional ballots that are cast on Election Day are opened and counted after voter signatures on the envelopes are verified against voter registration records.
• Other ballots that are damaged or cannot be machine-read are counted after being remade by county elections officials.

Getting back to the attorney general race between Kamala Harris and Steve Cooley—Cooley declared victory late Tuesday with the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper trumpeting his win. But both the paper and Cooley had to take a step back and suck it up; Harris through the night catapulted her numbers leading Cooley by 14,800 votes by Wednesday morning which forced him to abruptly cancel his victory press conference.

There are a handful of other races as well that may have to wait for a final count on mail-in and provisional votes to find out the victors.

In other unresolved races in California awaiting results:

• 11th District: Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney was behind during early vote-by-mail returns, but crept into a minuscule lead of 121 votes over GOP nominee David Harmer as Election Day votes rolled in.
• Antioch school board: Joy Motts led Jack Yeager by four votes for the second open seat.
• Antioch City Council: Arne Simonsen trailed Gary Agopian by 70 votes for the second open seat. Simonsen, a councilman from 2000 to 2008, narrowly lost a council seat two years ago.
• Knightsen school district: Its bond measure was failing by a few votes. Measure N, which requires a 55 percent majority, had the support of 54.4 percent of voters.
• Martinez: Councilwoman Lara Delaney was ahead by a scant 66 votes over challenger Kathi McLaughlin in the fight for the second-place spot.
• Orinda: Councilwoman Sue Severson was holding onto her seat by 59 votes over challenger Scott Zeller for the third council opening.

Final note: As of midnight on Wednesday in California, Kamala Harris had 3,292,836 votes to Mr. Cooley’s 3,277,998 votes, according to AP. It’s that pickled pig feet juice we left on her doorstep, see.

Mercury News: Close races still pending mail-in-ballot counts

California Secretary Of State Website: Unprocessed Ballot Status

Wall Street Journal: Is Kamala Harris California’s New AG? Maybe