Less than 1% of ballots remain to be counted in 2022 Primary Election

Less than 1% of the total ballots cast in the 2022 Primary Election remain to be counted as of Tuesday afternoon, according to officials at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office.  

In their sixth post-election ballot count, officials said they had counted a total of 1,619,797 ballots with only 6,491 left to go. Of those left to be counted, 6,480 are vote by mail, 10 are provisional or conditional voter registrations and one requires further review after being damaged or needing further review.  

In the race for Congressional District 27, Republican Rep. Mike Garcia and Democratic challenger Christy Smith have maintained their 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 57,455 (47.1%) votes to Smith’s 45,661 (37.4%), with their next closest challenger, Democrat Quaye Quartey, holding 8,300 (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 48,083 (47.4%) of the total ballots already counted to Democrat Pilar Schiavo’s 34,398 (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 18,883 (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, 23,459 (31.1%) votes to 22,532 (29.8%). 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 20,247 (26.8%) and the next closest challenger Democrat Raj Kahlon is just north 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 454,342 (30.66%) of the total votes. His next closest challenger, Robert Luna, has 383,014 (25.86%) of the votes.    

The California Secretary of State has until July 15 to certify the election results.