California’s slow vote count leaves critical House races in limbo
By
Andi Shae Napier
November 18, 2024 12:58 pm
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California has consistently been one of the slowest states to count its votes after the Nov. 5 election. It’s home to two extremely tight House races, but only three-quarters of votes statewide have been counted thus far.
The state will help determine just how slim of a majority Republicans will take in the House. The party has 218 members, but with the Democrats hanging behind by six seats, there’s room for Republicans to expand their margins.
The two races that have the potential to flip red seats blue are between Democrat Derek Tran and Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) in Southern California’s 45th Congressional District and Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) and Democratic challenger Adam Gray in Central California’s 13th District.
After trailing Steel for a majority of the vote count, Tran has evened out with Steel, bringing both candidates to 50% each with about 9% of the district’s votes left to be counted. The count is close — Tran leads Steel by just 36 votes.
Steel is leading Tran in the Orange County portion of the district, 50.8%-49.2%, but she is trailing Tran by about 13% in Los Angeles County, 56.3%-43.7%.
In California’s 13th District, Gray is 1 percentage point behind incumbent Duarte, who now sits with 50.6% of the vote. Only 2,000 votes are separating the two competitors, and about 28,000 votes are waiting to be counted.
The counties of Fresno and Madera are pushing for Duarte by margins of over 11 points each, but Merced, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties show Gray in the lead by 7 points or less.
Part of the reason for the slow counting is California’s policy to send every resident a mail-in ballot to increase voter turnout and accessibility. The state has broad deadlines for mail-in votes, giving voters days for their ballot to show up as long as the envelope has a postmark of Election Day, Nov. 5.
more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/congressional/3233029/california-slow-vote-count-critical-house-races-limbo/
