LOS ANGELES, Calif.–The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/Clerk today flagged five races or ballot measures as “close contests” based on the number of outstanding provisional and vote-by-mail ballots still to tally.
The Registrar’s Office workers are processing what officials expect will be a record number of provisional ballots. Those are the ones filled out at polling places by voters who were not on any voter rolls.
Based on the closeness of the race after 100 percent of precincts reported traditional vote counts, the registrar’s office flagged Measure J, a sales tax extension to pay for transit, and El Monte’s Measure F, an ordinance affecting rents at mobile home parks.
Races in the 36th and 50th Assembly districts and the Cerritos Community College District Governing Board Member Trustee Area Four were also flagged as close.
Registrar’s office spokeswoman Monica Flores said an official tally of the number of provisional ballots would not be available until about 3 this afternoon.
“Visually, we can tell it’s a record number of provisional ballots, probably in the hundreds of thousands,” she said.
The provisional ballots still need to be verified for voters’ registration statuses before they can be counted.
The Registrar’s Office has 28 days to certify the outcomes of all races and ballot measures on the county ballot. Officials will be “double- and triple-checking” that provisional ballot voters were eligible and registered and that they did not submit provisional ballots at more than one polling place, Flores said.
