A little over 10,000 ballots remain to be counted in L.A. County for the 2022 primary election, according to officials at the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office.
In its fourth post-election ballot count update, posted on Tuesday, the Clerk’s Office stated the estimated number of outstanding ballots to be processed is 13,790 and 1,613,910 have already been processed since election night on June 7.
In the race for Congressional District 27, Republican Rep. Mike Garcia and Democratic challenger Christy Smith have maintained their substantial lead over the pool of six total candidates vying to represent the Santa Clarita Valley in Washington, D.C.
As of the latest update from the California Secretary of State’s website, Garcia held 57,284 (47.1%) votes to Smith’s 45,530 (37.4%), with their next closest challenger, Democrat Quaye Quartey, holding 8,269 (6.8%). Democrat Ruth Luevanos and Republicans Mark Pierce and David Rudnick each held less than 7,000 votes.
Incumbent Republican Suzette Valladares currently holds the most votes counted so far in the Assembly District 40 race, amassing 47,934 (47.4%) of the total ballots already counted to Democrat Pilar Schiavo’s 34,306 (33.9%).
California operates under a top-two primary format, meaning that the top two candidates, regardless of party preference, advance to the general election runoff.
Both Valladares and Schiavo have thus far outpaced the only other candidate in the race, Democrat Annie Cho, who has 18,847 (18.6%) of the total votes counted as of Tuesday at 5 p.m.
In Assembly District 34, Republican incumbent Thurston “Smitty” Smith leads fellow Republican incumbent Tom Lackey, 22,888 (31.4%) votes to 21,483 (29.4%). Smith currently represents Assembly District 33 and Lackey represents Assembly District 36, but due to redistricting following the 2020 U.S. Census, both legislators are now running to defend their seat in the newly designated 34th District.
Democrat Rita Ramirez leads the remaining four candidates in the race with 19,619 (26.9%) and the next closest challenger Democrat Raj Kahlon holds just shy of 4,000 total votes.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva leads a pack of nine candidates jockeying to be L.A. County’s top cop, with the incumbent holding 452,802 (30.66%) of the total votes. Challengers Robert Luna and Eric Strong have 381,959 (25.86%) and 231,315 (15.66%) of the total votes already counted, respectively.
The California Secretary of State has until July 15 to certify the election results.
