Hi Folks,

Many California congressional and legislative races remain too close to call. CVF's Close Count Transparency Project is tracking a number of close U.S. House and legislative races which you can view in the CVF tracker.

While a few counties continued counting ballots Saturday through Monday, most were closed for the holiday weekend. Four California county election offices – Santa Clara, Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles were also hampered by bomb threats delivered via email on Friday, November 8th. 

Los Angeles and Orange counties were among those that continued their count through the weekend despite the threats, and the additional votes changed which candidate was in the lead, from the Republican to the Democrat, in CD 27 and CD 47; their leads widened as more ballots were counted through the weekend and today, leading the Associated Press to call CD 27 today for the Democratic challenger. CD 47 is still considered too close to call. Incumbent Democrats in CD 9 and CD 49 saw their leads widen, and the Associated Press called CD 49 for the incumbent Democrat. Republican incumbents' margins decreased in CD 41 and CD 45 over the holiday weekend. While no new votes were added in CD 45 today, the Republican incumbent has a lead of 2.5 percent. In CD 41, the Republican incumbent’s lead declined to 0.8 percent. In CD 13, the Republican incumbent’s lead dropped slightly to 2.1 percent. In CD 21, the Democratic incumbent’s lead grew to 3.6 percent. In CD 22, the Republican incumbent’s lead dipped slightly but remained high at 6.8 percent and the Associated Press called this race today for Valadao.

The seven undecided California House seats are among the final contests to be decided nationwide that will determine which party controls the House. According to the Associated Press, as of Tuesday night, Republicans are two seats away from the 218 needed to hold on to their majority, while Democrats are eleven seats away from capturing the majority. While one news outlet has called the House for the Republicans, AP and others have held off to await more confirmation before making this determination.  

This morning the Secretary of State released an updated Unprocessed Ballot Report showing that statewide an estimated 2.6 million ballots remain to be counted; some of these ballots were counted and reported today in updated vote totals. Approximately 161,000 ballots are challenged and could still be counted if voters with challenged signatures supply a valid signature to “cure” their ballot. In addition, today was the last day ballots postmarked by Election Day can be received and counted by election offices.

Please see CVF's Close Count Report #4, summarizing the status of close races as of Tuesday, November 12th and providing the estimated total number of ballots remaining to be counted in the counties that are home to these districts.

-- Kim Alexander, California Voter Foundation